Page:The mammals of Australia Gould vol 2.djvu/199

 Gould.

Short-eared Rock-Wallaby.

Macropus (Petrogale) brachyotis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part viii. p. 127. Ib. Mon. of Macropodidse, pi. .

—— brachiotis, Waterh. in Jard. Nat. Lib. Marsupialia, p. 247.

—— (Heteropus) brachiotis, Waterh. Nat. Hist, of Mamm., vol. i. p. 176.

Petrogale brachyotis, Gray, List of Spec, of Mamm. in Coll. Brit. Mus., p. 92.

discovery of this species of Rock Kangaroo is due to the researches of His Excellency Sir George Grey, the present (1859) Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, who procured it on the North-west coast of Australia, near Hanover Bay, on the 29th of December, 1837. The two specimens, a male and a female, then obtained, which appear to be fully adult, are in the British Museum, and are at present unique. Sir George Grey states that the animal " is excessively wild and shy in its habits, frequenting in the day-time the highest and most inaccessible rocks, and only coming down to the valleys to feed early in the morning and late in the evening. When disturbed in the day-time it bounds among the roughest and most precipitous rocks, apparently with the greatest facility, and is so watchful and wary that it is by no means easy to get a shot at it. How it can support the excessive heat of the sand rocks amongst which it always lies is to me truly astonishing, the temperature there during the hottest part of the day being frequently 136°. I have never seen this animal on the low land or the plains, and I consequently believe it to be entirely an inhabitant of the mountains."

No other species of Rock Kangaroo has yet been discovered with such short and scanty hair as the Petrogale brachyotis, which scantiness of covering may be due to the great heat of the latitudes it inhabits, and the peculiar localities to which it resorts—hard craggy rocks exposed to the burning sun. In confirmation of this being a genuine species, Mr. Waterhouse remarks: —

"The Short-eared Rock Kangaroo is readily distinguished from the penicillatus and lateralis by the absence of the black band on the sides of the body, the only remains of this dark hue being confined to a patch immediately behind the base of the fore leg; its general colour is paler, and the fur is much shorter; the tail is less bushy; its bulk is moreover inferior, and the proportionately small size of the ears is an important distinguishing character; in its smaller size and in the reddish hue of the upper parts of the body, it approaches to concinnus; but besides other differences, that animal does not possess any dark mark or spot on the sides of the body."

Fur short and rather close to the body; general colour of the upper surface greyish brown, suffused with rust-colour; under surface dirty yellowish white; head pale brown, with a dirty white mark on each side; cheeks almost white; ears pale internally, dusky externally; a rusty black patch on the body, immediately behind the base of the fore leg; fore feet brown; nails of the toes very short and scarcely projecting beyond the fleshy portion, which is extremely rough beneath; tail moderately bushy, coloured at the base like the body, but the apical third dusky black.

Male.

feet, inches.

Length from the nose to the extremity of the tail ....... .3 0

„ of tail 1 3

„ „ tarsus and toes, including the nail 0 5

„ „ arms and hands, including the nails. 0 3^

„ „ face from the tip of the nose to the base of the ear ... 0 3|-

The larger figure is about the size of life.