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webbed feet, seem to ally this animal to the family of the water-fowl ; whilst its 

 general appearance, its hairy covering-, and internal structure prove indisputably its 

 title to be ranked amongst the mammalia. 



The Ornithorhynchus is an inhabitant of Australia, and is found both in New 

 Holland and in Van Dieman's land. The race is very numerous ': they frequent 

 the rivers of those countries, and form their burrows in the banks. They are 

 called by the colonists Water-Moles, from a resemblance they are supposed to 

 bear to the common European Mole. Their shyness and timidity are extreme ; 

 so that " on seeing them," says Mr. Bennett,* who had many opportunities of 

 observing them in their native haunts, " the spectator must remain perfectly sta- 

 tionary, as the slightest noise or movement of the body would cause their instant 

 disappearance, so acute are they in sight or hearing, or perhaps in both ; and they 

 seldom re-appear when they have been frightened. By remaining perfectly quiet 

 when the animal is " up," the spectator is enabled to obtain an excellent view of 

 its movements on the water ; it seldom, however, remains longer than one or two 

 minutes playing and paddling on the surface, soon diving again and re-appearing a 

 short distance above or below, generally according to the direction in which it 

 dives. It dives head foremost with an audible splash." They swim very low, so 

 that the upper part of the back and the head only are seen above the surface of 

 the water ; and when their fur is wet, they resemble a mass of dirty weeds 

 rather than a living animal, on which account they often escape observation. 



Their food consists of river insects, small shell-fish, and other animalculae, 

 which they obtain for the most part by inserting their beaks into the soft mud on 

 the sides of the rivers, and particularly at the roots of the various aquatic plants 

 that grow in such situations. Their mode of seeking food in the mud or water 

 is very like that of a Duck when feeding in similar places ; immediately after 

 withdrawing the beak from the mud, they raise the head, and masticate the prey 

 they have obtained by a lateral motion of the mandibles one upon the other. 



Their habitations are formed by burrowing in the banks of the rivers which 

 they frequent. The burrows are generally about twenty feet long, but they have 

 been found as much as fifty feet in length ; they have two entrances, one of them 

 situated three or four feet above the surface of the river, and the other a short 

 distance below the level of the water. At the commencement they are capacious, 

 but immediately afterwards become contracted to a size little more than sufficient 

 to let the body of the animal pass ; they proceed upwards, rather in a serpentine 

 direction, and terminate just beneath the surface of the ground in a kind of cham- 

 ber large enough to contain the mother and three or four young ones. The nest 

 is made of dried weeds, bark, and small fibrous roots. The entrance of the bur- 

 row is so placed as to be concealed from observation by surrounding grass, weeds, 



* Loc. Cit., page 234. 



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