THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. $J 



banks of streams, 1 in- which it burrows. It tunnels 

 passages sometimes fifty feet long, at the end of which it 

 forms a nest of grass and weeds, and in this the little 

 creatures with the very long names are reared. It shovels 

 up its food with its flat bill, like a duck does, and is an 

 excellent swimmer, its feet being furnished with mem- 

 branes between the toes, like those of the duck, but 

 the web folds back when burrowing, leaving the claws 

 free ; so you see, that however strange the animal may 

 seem to us, it is well supplied with means by which 

 it is enabled to provide for its own comfort and that of 

 its young. 



MARSUPIALS.* 



THE animals which form the leading members of this 

 order, arc found in Australia and America, and receive 

 their name from a pouch or bag in front of the body of 

 the female. 



You must know, that although the young of the Kan- 

 garoo, which is the type of Marsupials, are born alive, 

 that is quite as much as can be said of them, for they 

 are so extremely helpless that they cannot even suck. 

 Immediately after their birth, therefore, they are placed 

 in the mother's pouch, and each attaches itself to a teat, 

 out of which the milk is pressed into its mouth. And 

 strange-looking little fellows 'they are, only very little 

 more than one inch long, covered by a flesh-coloured) 

 semi-transparent skin. Their tail at this period is ex- 

 tremely short, and their fore paws are one-third longer 

 than their hind paws. They remain in the pouch for 

 about eight months, popping their heads out occasionally, 

 as if to see what sort of a place the world is, or to taste 

 the high grass ; and should any one tumble out, the mother 



* Marsupintn, a pouch. 



