but approaches the squirrel tribe. It is a lilliputian kangaroo, the
size of our native wood squirrel and larger, only grey or reddish-grey.
It can leap six or eight feet easily, and is excellent eating. The
native dog is of all colours; it has the head and brush of a fox, with
the body a legs of a dog. It is a cowardly animal, and will run away
from you like mad. It is a great enemy of the kangaroo rat, and
a torment to the squatter, for a native dog has a great PENCHANT for
mutton and will kill thirty or forty sheep in the course of an hour.

A species of mocking-bird which inhabits the bush is a ludicrous
creature. It imitates everything, and makes many a camping party
imagine there is a man near them, when they hear its whistle or hearty
laugh. This bird is nicknamed the "Jackass," and its loud "ha! ha! ha!"
is heard every morning at dawn echoing through the woods and serving
the purpose of a "boots" by calling the sleepy traveller in good time
to get his breakfast and pursue his journey. The bats here are very
large.

Insects, fleas, &c., are as plentiful as it is possible to be, and the
ants, of which there are several kinds, are a perfect nuisance. The
largest are called by the old colonists, "bull-dogs," and formidable
creatures they are--luckily not very common, about an inch and a half
long, black, or rusty-black, with a red tail. They bite like a
little crab. Ants of an inch long are quite common. They do not--like the
English ones--run scared away at the sight of a human being--not a
bit of it; Australian ants have more PLUCK, and will turn and face you.
Nay, more, should you RETREAT, they will run after you with all the
impudence imaginable. Often when my organ of destructiveness has
tempted me slightly to disturb with the end of my parasol one of the
many ant-hills on the way from Melbourne to Richmond, I have been
obliged, as soon as they discovered the perpetrator of the attack, to
take to my heels and run away as if for my life.

Centipedes and triantelopes (colonial, for tarantula) are very common,
and though not exactly fatal, are very dangerous if not attended to.
The deaf adder is the most formidable "varmint" in Australia. There are
two varieties; it is generally about two feet long. The bite is fatal.
The deaf adder never moves unless it is touched, hence its name. I do
not think it has the power of twisting or twirling, like the
ordinary snake or adder and it is very slow in its movements. Th