Kangaroo Farm.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 76

Kangaroo Farm.

—Established to Provide Supply of the Graceful Animals for Pets.— > (London Express.) The increasing popularity of kangaroos .. and wallabies as pew has led to a curious , departure in farming at Lyncombe_ Mill, Bath, wh«re the first kangaroo farm in this, or any other country has been established. i The founders of this enterprise are two Englishmen, Messrs W. H. Payne and j "Jack" Wallace, who probably know more about the unexplored wilds of North-west ■ Australia than any persons living who are not native bushmen. 3?heir wanderings^ in ; the remotest of savage Australasian districts cover a period of more than 30 years, and : t they are both seasoned bushmen, keen ! naturalists, and skilled trappers. _ I ! They were the first persons to bring the j i , beautiful and valuable antelopine kangaroo i to this country, and at Lyneombe Hill they >. have just effected a remarkable success in ' breeding from this species, one of the does , having- care of a. youngster — the prettiest and liveliest little fellow imaginable, with ; a dainty little head exactly like that of an f Italian -greyhound. I An Express representative was shown over ] the kangaroo farm by Mr Payne, who is , now in oharge of Bath, while Mr Wallace ' is securing a new collection of animals, ! which are to arrive from the antipodes next April. | Mr Payne first led the way into the nur- ! sery — a large, apartment, heatedj very near to tropical temperature. . Comfortably quartered 'here were eevera} young wallabies, with the little antelopine infant and its mother. I The buildings and paddocks of the farm- , cover about four acres, and they are sur- ] rounded by a high stone wall. The latter is an essential on a kangaroo farm, for, \ as Mr Payne pointed out, an old-man I kangaroo is a wonderful jumper. "Heights 1 oi 10ft and lengths of 20ft are not uncommon," he added ; "and I have myself measured a jump along the ground of IBft j in the large paddock -here." It waa interesting to see half a dozen j ' antelope kangaroos in one of the paddocks hustling one another to secure a slice of bread Mr Payne carried. They boxed and wrestled just like human beings. "The rarest kangaroos in England are to be seen in the Belle Vue Gardens, Man- } Chester," said Mr Payne, "and they nearly j all went from this farm, but the most :.n- , teresting fact in relation to our kangaroo j farm is that we are doing a steadily-in-j creasing business with country gentlemen, with whom fhe idea of having kangaroos »i large in their parks is becoming very popular Wallabies, also are being bought in large numbers by well-to-do people." Kangaroos are docile and sensible pets, and they require very little attention. " In th summer they live mainly on grass, and sleep out of doors; in -winter they require a shelter such as park deer have, and they do best on a diet of crushed maize. Aii Ocean flfest-builder. . The home-life of animals beneath the sea is not apt to form a very open page j in natural history, and it is only, perhaps, . by rare good fortune, or. by accident, that j [ investigators have^ discovered what little | is already known. ~ In even a casual glance at marine life, we are impressed with one fact, that there is a great similarity in the habits of both land and sea animals. In both remarkable skill is shown in oonstrucing homes and nests. Some of our readers have probably seen the trap-door spider , Nbemesia, which displays so much ingenuity in transplanting moss to its trap, so that it may resemble the surrounding ground. ! i So in the sea we find a curious worm that *■ builds its house underground, very much alter the manner of the spider, and, like some of them, erects a tower over it. For ' a long time one of these worms was kep_t ja an siquarium. and the intelligence it

displayed was astonishing. If the tower had been formed of white sand, it would have attracted' notice immediately, but in its construction pieces of weed were introduced, until, finally, " when complete, it was two inches high, and resembled a thick bunch of green weed. Even now, however, the top was conspicuous and wanted a door, so wWt does our cunning worker do but select a bit of grass, just the width of the opening, and work it in with the masonry, so that it not only appeared to be the growing end of a bit of seaweed, but fell over the opening end formed a trap-door very similar to that of the spider noticed. — Sience Siftihgs.