246 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [1839. 



There are two species of the genera, — the ornithorhynchus 

 paradoxus, and the ornithorhynchus fuscus : they have the 

 body and habits of a mole, the feet and bill of a duck, and 

 the internal formation of a reptile, though they are not cold 

 blooded ; they lead a burrowing life, in the mud of rivers 

 and swamps, and are so extremely shy, that their mode of re- 

 production has not yet been discovered. 



The rodentia consist of two species of hydromys, called 

 muskrats, uniting the peculiarities of the dormouse, common 

 rat, and beaver ; a rat {coniluras constructor), bearing a 

 general resemblance to the rabbit, and remarkable for the 

 formidable defences of earth which it constructs against the 

 dingo and birds of prey ; two peculiar species of mice ; a red 

 shrew mouse ; and the Australian jerboa. 



When the first colonists went out from England, in the 

 spring of 1787, they took with them one stallion, three brood 

 mares, three colts, forty-nine hogs, twenty-five pigs, two bulls, 

 five cows, twenty-nine sheep, nineteen goats, and five rabbits. 

 The last two have not thriven remarkably well, but the 

 other species of stock have increased with great rapidity. 

 During the first twenty- five years, frequent importations 

 were made, and in 1797, through the exertions of Captain 

 M { Arthur, a number of fine wooled sheep were imported from 

 the Cape of Good Hope, the original breed of which had 

 been brought from Holland, in order to improve the coarse- 

 wooled varieties then in the country. So favorable is the 

 climate of Australia to the domestic animals, and such abund- 

 ant pasturage is afforded them on the unlimited plains and 

 terraces among the mountains, that they thrive unusually 

 well. The ratio of increase of horses has been about eleven 

 per cent, yearly : in 1817 there were not far from three thou- 

 sand, and there are now over forty thousand. The horned 

 cattle have multiplied so fast, that many of them have 

 escaped from the distant stations ; and there are now large 

 herds in the interior, numbering from eight to fifteen hun- 

 dred, in a completely wild state. In 1821, there were about 

 120,000 sheep in the country, and in 1838, the number was 



