. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. 338 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD. rh,u hy Yorli b So> TASMANIAN DEVIL A small, but stout and poiverful animal, 'very destructi've, and absolutely untamable aphorism runs concerning his sable namesake, he is not always so black as he is painted. More or less or in fact mostly black he always is, but there is usually a redeeming thread or patch of white upon his coat. This may take the form of a small star-like spot only on the front of its chest, which not infre- quently extends to a narrow crescent-shaped band or line continued round the neck almost to
. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. 338 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD. rh,u hy Yorli b So> TASMANIAN DEVIL A small, but stout and poiverful animal, 'very destructi've, and absolutely untamable aphorism runs concerning his sable namesake, he is not always so black as he is painted. More or less or in fact mostly black he always is, but there is usually a redeeming thread or patch of white upon his coat. This may take the form of a small star-like spot only on the front of its chest, which not infre- quently extends to a narrow crescent-shaped band or line continued round the neck almost to the shoulders. One or more supplementary spots of white may also be developed upon the flanks and hindquarters. The destructive pro- pensities of the Tasmanian devil, wherein the farmers' sheep and poultry are concerned, are in no way inferior to those of the Tasmanian wolf, and in consequence of their former much greater abundance the havoc these animals committed was the more serious. Placed, like the last-named type, under Government ban, these native devils have, in comparison with the earlier days of colonisation, very considerably ceased from troubling, and with the ever-progressing march of settlement and civiHsation will probably be altogether exterminated at a no-very distant date. A bag of no less than 150 of these marauders, in the course of one winter, was recorded from an upland sheep-station some twenty or thirty years ago. In common with the thylacine, it has been observed that the Tasmanian devil has a marked predilection for prowling along the seashore in search apparently of crabs, fish, or any acceptable flotsam and jetsam that may be cast up by the waves. Examples of this most unamiable of mammals were brought in alive on several occasions to the Hobart Museum during the writer's residence in Tasmania, but in all cases obstinately resisted every attempt towards the establishment of a friendly footing. Their ultimate relegation to the specimen-cases was, und
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Keywords: ., bookauthorco, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmammals
