Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/241

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This large species, so rare in the collections of Europe, is exceedingly numerous in Arnhem Land. Although it seems to prefer hilly country, the traveller may often meet it in the plains at a considerable distance from any mountain. There did not seem to be any distinct rule for its occurrence. One would always be sure to find it in any big range, and in the undulating ironstone; in some places it was frequently seen, but not constant, and the only localities where I certainly never observed the slightest trace of it are the large open plains on the lower tidal portion of the river Daly. The large jungles also never seem to offer any attraction. In the sandstone ranges on Victoria river the animal abounded.

The "Red Wallaroo" is nearly always met with in great mobs, consisting of females, young, and young males. "Old men" or adult males are very often found single, or sometimes accompanied by a female, and strong animals of any sex or age may sometimes be observed single; but typically M. antilopinus is a gregarious animal.

In some mountain valley, or in the shade of some trees, the animals form what is commonly termed a "camp"; that is, each animal scratches a slight depression in the sandy soil, and there neatly coils itself up to sleep during the hottest part of the day. In the afternoon, or towards sundown, they commence feeding on the green shoots or roots of various grasses, and sometimes at considerable intervals they will make for water. For how long a period they can dispense with water I do not know, but this species, like so many Australian mammals, seems in a considerable degree to be independent of it. In places where water is abundant they do not seem to drink every day, and sometimes one will meet the "Red Wallaroo" in places where water could only be procured by travelling long distances.

All through the night the animals are feeding; even the early morning and forenoon are very often devoted to the same occupation, and only through the hottest part of the day they rest in the camp, to which they constantly return. With such precision do the Kangaroos—and especially the solitary ones—return to their usual camps, that the aboriginal hunter by this