The Duck-Billed Platypus. 



Ill 



THE DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS, OK WATER 

 MOLE. (Ornitliorliynchus paradoxus.) 



THIS extraordinary creature has the bill and webbed feet 

 of a duck, united to the body of a mole. It is a native 

 of Australia, where it is found on the banks of rivers, in 

 the sides of which it burrows and forms its nest. It 

 feeds on aquatic insects and small molluscous animals, 

 always, however, rejecting the shells of the latter, after 

 crushing them in its mouth, so as to extract the body. 

 A number of these animals are always found together ; 

 but it is very difficult to watch their habits, as their 

 sense of hearing is so acute, that they disappear at the 

 slightest noise, plunging into the water, in which they 

 swim so low, that they only look like a mass of weeds 

 floating on the surface. 



When the animal feeds, he plunges his beak into the 

 mud, just like a duck; and appears to be equally at 

 home on land and in water. Two young ones that were 

 kept for some time at Sydney, by Mr. Bennet, were 

 very fond of rolling themselves up like a hedgehog, 

 in the form of balls. They often slept in this position, 

 and " awful little growls " issued from them when dis- 



