Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/137

 the kangaroo grass is the most succulent, and makes splendid food for horses, cattle, and sheep. I do not think a horse will do more work on any kind of feeding than when fed on this grass, after it has begun to be turned by the sun. When eaten down close it forms a good sod. In addition to the grasses, there are numerous herbs, of which stock of all kind are very fond; and there is scarcely any shrub which they will not eat with avidity during part of the year when the leaves are tender.

I may here mention a singular fungus, which emits a brilliant, but pale green light at night. In the day it is of a dead white colour. I have seen it as much as four inches in diameter. The eatable mushroom is very plentiful, and of large size.

Most of the four-footed animals, and many of the birds of the country, are pretty well known by description. The kangaroo is still found in great abundance in all parts of the district which are thickly wooded, well watered, and not stocked with sheep; as wherever these animals graze, they banish not only kangaroos, but horses and cattle. Whole herds are to be met with in the Dandenong district, within twenty miles of Melbourne, which is almost entirely a cattle country. There are two species, the forester and the brush kangaroo The male of the former species, when full grown, reaches the height of six or seven feet when sitting on his gams, and is, when brought to bay, or (in the language of the Australian Nimrods) set up, a formidable antagonist, tearing the dogs with his hind claws, and sometimes even attacking men. He is called an old