G'day ...

Esprit d'escalier ... encore! Shortly after logging out of Mudcat, I remember that the small Tasmanian potorid wallaby is not anyone's wallaby at all - it is called the Rufous Wallaby, being more reddish than the larger Bennet's, which, in its Tasmanian form, is hairier and more griseus than rufous.

I remember that the Rufous Wallabies came around about dusk, up a Waldheim's Chalet in the 1970s, and would cadge bits of bread or fruit. They would then stand around neatly holding the food they were nibbling in their forepaws - until they got mugged by a Black Currawong ... flying straight at their faces until they dropped the goodies, which were adroitly grabbed in mid-air before they made away.

I didn't see the Rufous near the hut in recent years - they have probably been pushed away by the Brush-tailed possums which, in typical Tasmanian fashion, are bigger and furrier than their mainland counterparts ... and they have been taking lessons in manners from the Tasmanian Devils!

Regards,

Bob Bolton