[A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson by Watkin Tench]@TWC D-Link bookA Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson CHAPTER XVII 29/100
We were never able to ensnare them.
Those sportsmen who relied on the gun seldom met with success, unless they slept near covers, into which the kangaroos were wont to retire at night, and watched with great caution and vigilance when the game, in the morning, sallied forth to feed.
They were, however, sometimes stolen in upon in the day-time and that fascination of the eye, which has been by some authors so much insisted upon, so far acts on the kangaroo that if he fixes his eye upon any one, and no other object move at the same time, he will often continue motionless, in stupid gaze, while the sportsman advances with measured step, towards him, until within reach of his gun.
The greyhounds for a long time were incapable of taking them; but with a brace of dogs, if not near cover a kangaroo almost always falls, since the greyhounds have acquired by practice the proper method of fastening upon them.
Nevertheless the dogs are often miserably torn by them.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|