Gallery)
    Thus ended all my hopes and anticipations for 1913. I have not so far related an incident that took place just before the breeding-season. Being hopeful that Truganini might have young in her pouch, and my assistant being as usual very busy, Professor T. T. Flynn, of the Tasmanian University, who is always interested in our marsupials, kindly offered to examine her pouch. As soon as an attempt was made to catch her, Billy grasped the position of affairs and fought to defend her with all his might, even getting behind her in the little cave, putting a paw on each shoulder and holding her tightly, lest she might get into what appeared to him to be the danger zone. By dint of perseverance and a little strategy he was outwitted at last, but our hopes were doomed to disappointment.
    Truganini has now passed through another period of retirement, and I am hoping to record shortly a greater measure of success for 1914.
    I cannot close this article without a few words in defence of the Tasmanian Devil, as I am sure that it is more or less âmisunderstoodâ, and the article with photograph published in the âRoyal Magazineâ for October 1913 under the name of L. R. Brightwell, F. Z. S., is, I consider, greatly exaggerated both as regards their appearance and character, viz., âThey are well named, for they tear everything, even sheep, to pieces if they get the chanceâ.
    On several occasions when one of mine has escaped, the only mischief done has been the destruction of a fowl or a duck or two. It would have been just as easy for a wallaby to have been killed if they had had the inclination, about which our fox-terriers would not have hesitated for a minute if a chance had occurred. When in transit to London last year one escaped, and I have been told by the chief officer of the vessel that âthe passengers were much alarmed as there were children on board, and someone went about with a revolverâ. Later I came across the butcher who was in charge at the time, and he appeared to have been rather amused than otherwise, and told me the missing one was discovered at last sleeping under the berth of one of the sailors! I donât wonder, with the reputation that the devils have, that the passengers were alarmed. 5
Mary Roberts had more luck in 1914 when Truganini gave birth to three babies. Billy was again the father but was now kept away from the maternal enclosure. Roberts compiled diary notes, as with these examples:
29thâAll three playing like puppies, biting each other and pulling one another about by the ears . . .
30thâWhole family hanging from the mother as she ran out, and one hardly knows which to admire most, her patience and endurance, or the hardihood of the young in holding on and submitting to so much knocking about. The whole process seems very casual and most remarkable . . . The baby devils had the sense of smell very strongly developed; immediately I approached, their nostrils would begin to work and a vigorous sniffing would go on. They were also expert climbers, and although I had some specially constructed yards made, they would get up the wire-netting and walk along the top rail quite easily; at other times they would climb a pear-tree growing in their enclosure and sit in the branches like cats. 6
Her article concludes with a section headed âGeneral Remarksâ:
I have always found devils rather fond of a bath; quite recently, going down to their yard after an illness and finding only a drinking vessel, I ordered a larger one to be put in, and they showed their pleasure by going in at once, sometimes two at a time. I have occasionally poured water from a can over them, when they would run to and fro under it with much enjoyment.
    Their sight in daylight is rather defective; they seem to pick up their food more readily by smelling than by seeing, and I think they can see
    Thus ended all my hopes and anticipations for 1913. I have not so far related an incident that took place just before the breeding-season. Being hopeful that Truganini might have young in her pouch, and my assistant being as usual very busy, Professor T. T. Flynn, of the Tasmanian University, who is always interested in our marsupials, kindly offered to examine her pouch. As soon as an attempt was made to catch her, Billy grasped the position of affairs and fought to defend her with all his might, even getting behind her in the little cave, putting a paw on each shoulder and holding her tightly, lest she might get into what appeared to him to be the danger zone. By dint of perseverance and a little strategy he was outwitted at last, but our hopes were doomed to disappointment.
    Truganini has now passed through another period of retirement, and I am hoping to record shortly a greater measure of success for 1914.
    I cannot close this article without a few words in defence of the Tasmanian Devil, as I am sure that it is more or less âmisunderstoodâ, and the article with photograph published in the âRoyal Magazineâ for October 1913 under the name of L. R. Brightwell, F. Z. S., is, I consider, greatly exaggerated both as regards their appearance and character, viz., âThey are well named, for they tear everything, even sheep, to pieces if they get the chanceâ.
    On several occasions when one of mine has escaped, the only mischief done has been the destruction of a fowl or a duck or two. It would have been just as easy for a wallaby to have been killed if they had had the inclination, about which our fox-terriers would not have hesitated for a minute if a chance had occurred. When in transit to London last year one escaped, and I have been told by the chief officer of the vessel that âthe passengers were much alarmed as there were children on board, and someone went about with a revolverâ. Later I came across the butcher who was in charge at the time, and he appeared to have been rather amused than otherwise, and told me the missing one was discovered at last sleeping under the berth of one of the sailors! I donât wonder, with the reputation that the devils have, that the passengers were alarmed. 5
Mary Roberts had more luck in 1914 when Truganini gave birth to three babies. Billy was again the father but was now kept away from the maternal enclosure. Roberts compiled diary notes, as with these examples:
29thâAll three playing like puppies, biting each other and pulling one another about by the ears . . .
30thâWhole family hanging from the mother as she ran out, and one hardly knows which to admire most, her patience and endurance, or the hardihood of the young in holding on and submitting to so much knocking about. The whole process seems very casual and most remarkable . . . The baby devils had the sense of smell very strongly developed; immediately I approached, their nostrils would begin to work and a vigorous sniffing would go on. They were also expert climbers, and although I had some specially constructed yards made, they would get up the wire-netting and walk along the top rail quite easily; at other times they would climb a pear-tree growing in their enclosure and sit in the branches like cats. 6
Her article concludes with a section headed âGeneral Remarksâ:
I have always found devils rather fond of a bath; quite recently, going down to their yard after an illness and finding only a drinking vessel, I ordered a larger one to be put in, and they showed their pleasure by going in at once, sometimes two at a time. I have occasionally poured water from a can over them, when they would run to and fro under it with much enjoyment.
    Their sight in daylight is rather defective; they seem to pick up their food more readily by smelling than by seeing, and I think they can see
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