384 INTEODirCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



Echidna and the Omithoryncus * {Fig. 301). The former is 

 a little ant-eating animal, bearing externally some resemblance 

 to a Hedgehog ; the latter, a creature so anomalous, that when 

 the first specimens of it arrived in Europe, and naturalists 

 saw the body of a quadruped joined to the bill of a bird, 

 they naturally suspected that the union was an artificial one. 

 The real animal was in fact more wonderful than that which 

 any dealer in " strange beasts," would have ventured to fabri- 

 cate. 



The Omithoryncus is about eighteen inches long, and is 

 called by the natives of Australia the water-mole. It frequents 

 tranquil waters, seeking its food among aquatic plants, and 

 excavating its burrows in the steep and shaded banks. The 

 motions of its mandibles when procuring food are similar to 

 those of a duck under the same circumstances. t 



The Kangaroos of Australia, form the family (Macropodidce)^ 

 best known to Europeans. " They are vegetable-feeding ani- 

 mals, browsing u[X)n herbage like the Euminants, and it appears 

 that in some cases they chew the cud like those animals. Some 

 are of great size, being nearly as tall as a man when in their 

 common erect position ; others are as small as the common 

 Hare, and indeed greatl}^ resemble that animal in general ap- 

 pearance."§ About the beginning of the present century, but 

 three species of the present group were known. They are now 

 regarded as a family, subdivided into many genera, and con- 

 taining numei'ous species. 



We have a very vivid recollection of a scene we once wit- 

 nessed at the Surrey Zoological Gardens. On the abdomen of 

 a large bluish-grey coloured Kangaroo, we noticed two appen- 

 dages, which a second glance told us were the fore-feet of the 

 young one. In another moment the head peeped out, and the 

 young creature began gazing around. The mother then bent 

 down, and with great tenderness, began licking its face and 

 head. These endearments being finished, the young one came 

 out, and was amusing itself on the ground, when alarmed by a 

 sudden noise, it jumped into the pouch, and was seen no more, 

 leaving us as much astonished, as when, in our boyish days, we 



* From two Greek words, the one signifying a bird, the other a beak. 

 It is sometimes called the " Duck-billed Platypus," (flat-foot.) 



t A most interesting account of its habits is given by Mr. George Bennett 

 in the Transactions of the Zoological Sdciety of London, vol. i. 



i The generic term Macropus, signifies long-footed. § Waterhouse. 



