ae 
fom 
THE ORNITHORHYNCHUS PARADOXUS. 247 
The Ornithorkynchus which I had thus succeeded in obtaining alive and uninjured, 
was placed in a cask, with grass, mud (taken from the river), and water, and every- 
thing that could make it comfortable under existing circumstances. It ran round its 
place of confinement, scratching and making great efforts to get out ; but finding them 
useless, it became quite tranquil, contracted itself into a small compass, and soon 
became buried in sleep. At night, however, it was very restless, and made great efforts 
to escape, going round the cask with its fore paws raised against the sides, and the webs 
thrown back, and scratching violently with the claws of the fore feet, as if to burrow 
its way out. In the morning I found the animal fast asleep, the tail being turned in- 
wards, the head and beak under the breast, and the body contracted into a very small 
compass: sometimes, however, its position when asleep is with the tail as usual turned 
inwards, the body contracted, and the beak protruding. The animal uttered, when 
disturbed from its sleep, a noise something like the growl of a puppy, but perhaps in a 
softer and more harmonious key. Although quiet for the greater part of the day, it 
made efforts to escape and uttered a growling noise during the night. 
I found, by measurement, that the distance of the entrance of this burrow from the 
water’s edge was five feet: it was on a moderately steep bank, abounding with long 
wiry grass and shrubs, among which, and concealed by them, was the opening of the 
subterranean dwelling. From the judgment which I have been enabled to form from 
the examination of this, as well as of several other burrows of these animals, I do not 
imagine that the natives have ever seen, or that any one could see, (except ina state of 
continement,) the young ones in the act of sucking the mother ; for in the tedious pro- 
cess of digging their habitations, the old animal is disturbed, and either endeavours to 
escape, or actually succeeds in escaping, long before the termination of the burrow is 
attained. I could not observe any heaps of earth near the burrow, nor can I form any 
opinion how in the process of excavation the animal disposes of the loose mould. May 
we be permitted to suppose that the animal carries away the earth collected during the 
excavation, in order that the heap which would otherwise be formed may not point out 
the situation of the burrow? A similar instinct is found among several insects, as in 
the Mason Wasp and Carpenter Bee ; and why not in this animal ? 
This burrow ran up the bank in a serpentine course, approaching nearer to the surface 
of the earth towards its termination, at which part the nest is situated. This is suffi- 
ciently large to accommodate the old animal and its young. No nest had yet been made 
in the termination of this burrow, for that appears to be formed about the time of bring- 
ing forth the young, and consists merely of dried grass, weeds, &c., strewed over the floor 
of this part of the habitation. The termination was of the form shown in the following 
sketch, and measured one foot in length by six inches in breadth. The whole extent of 
the burrow, from the entrance to the termination, I found by actual measurement to be 
twenty feet. The burrows are situated above the usual river height, but do not appear 
to be above the extensive floods of the river which frequently take place during the 
