colouring, delicate blue being the prevailing tint in those parts which in the male are red, whence the colonial
names for the two sexes of Red Buck and Blue Doe; the female has also been called the Flying Doe, from
her extraordinary fleetness, which is in fact so great, that I have no hesitation in saying that on hard ground
and under favourable circumstances she would outstrip the fastest dogs. Occasionally both sexes are run
successfully, either from the chase being over soft muddy soil, or from the female being encumbered with a
large and heavy young one, which she has not been able to eject from the pouch, as she always will do if
possible when hardly pressed ; the female specimen in the British Museum above alluded to was procured
under these circumstances. Observing a pair sheltering from the heat of the sun under a small group of
Myalls (Acacia pendula) on the plains near the Namoi, I succeeded in leading a fine dog to within seventy
yards without being perceived; the dog was so quickly at the heels of the female, which was carrying a
large young one, that her escape was impossible : the male in the British Museum was also secured by a
single dog, which, after a short chase, “ pulled ” and kept him at bay until I came up and despatched him,
after a fearful resistance.- It weighed above two hundred pounds, and was killed while I was making a
forced march between the River Murray and the City of Adelaide, at a time when our provisions were
exhausted, and I can therefore speak with a lasting recollection of its flesh, which supported me and my
party tor four days.
The male has the head, all the upper surface and flanks rich orange-red; a wash of grey on the outer
side of the thigh ; sides of the muzzle as far as the angle of the mouth and the chin white; intermingled
with the white of ihe muzzle some interrupted rows of black hairs; ears white at the base, the remainder
greyish brown, friuged with white; throat and chest delicate pink, deeper at some seasons than at others;
arms and legs tawny white; hands and toes blackish brown; under surface of the body and tail white,
tinged with tawny.
The female is blue-grey where the male is red, but has a wash of red on the sides of the body and the
haunches tinged with viuous; has a broad white mark extending from the angle of the mouth under the
eye, and the under surface of the body and the limbs pure white. 7
In the young animal the upper surface is nearly of a uniform blue-grey.
•As a reduced figure can give but a faint idea of the size of this fine animal, I give the measurements of
the male killed near the Namoi.
Total length from the nose to the end of the tail eight feet two inches ; of the tail three feet; of the arm,
hand and nails eighteen inches and a half; of the tarsi, toes and nail fourteen inches; of the face from
the tip of the nose to the base of the ear eight inches; of the ear five inches and a half.
The drawing of the head, taken by Mr. Richter from the animal in the Gardens of the Zoological Society,
is about two-thirds of the fully adult size.