Browne; but as it was late in the afternoon when we regained the
tents, we did not move that evening, and the succeeding day being Sunday
we also remained stationary. We had halted close to one of those clear
patches on which the rain water lodges, but it had dried up, and there
was only a little for our use in a small gutter not far distant. Whilst
we were here encamped a little jerboa was chased by the dogs into a hole
close to the drays; which, with four others, we succeeded in capturing,
by digging for them. This beautiful little animal burrows in the ground
like a mouse, but their habitations have several passages, leading
straight, like the radii of a circle, to a common centre, to which a
shaft is sunk from above, so that there is a complete circulation of air
along the whole. We fed our little captives on oats, on which they
thrived, and became exceedingly tame. They generally huddled together in
a corner of their box, but, when darting from one side to the other, they
hopped on their hind legs, which, like the kangaroo, were much longer
than the fore, and held the tail perfectly straight and horizontal. At
this date they were a novelty to us, but we subsequently saw great
numbers of them, and ascertained that the natives frequented the sandy
ridges in order to procure them for food. Those we succeeded in capturing
were, I am sorry to say, lost from neglect.
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