A QUEER COUNTRY. 347

know. I saw a full-grown male that from nose to tip of tail meas-
ured nine feet. A kangaroo may be no mean enemy.”

Rick here drew a long breath, and said to himself: “ Guess I don’t
want a baby-kangaroo.” Ina moment he spoke up: ‘But what about
their basket ? ” ;

“ Oh,” laughed Mr. Bright, “ you mean the mother’s pouch, in which
she carries her young? You may well call it a basket. We have a
good many animals here in Australia that like to carry their young that
way. Ihave seen the young ones looking out of a kangaroo-mother’s
pouch contented as birds in a nest, or babies in their cradles. I said
there were various kinds of kangaroos. Rat-kangaroos, for instance,
are about as big as a
rabbit, and there are
tree-kangaroos, whose
fore legs are about
equal to the hind ones,

   

    
   
    

=
SS
‘)

and they can go up

os
XY

x

  
  
  

trees pretty quick. I

x
HH

PEN RAN

>
a.

 
  

suppose you boys have

ares
WIT)

seen an animal flying
from tree to tree, the
flymg phalanger, or,
generally called the
flying squirrel; it is
known as the flying
opossum also. It be-
longs to the marsu-
pial or pouch family,

LYRE-BIRD.

of which we have at
least one hundred and ten varieties in Australia. The flying squirrels