DESCRIPTION OF THE ECHIDNA 71 



are not so many of those convolutions which are found on 

 the brains of the highly-organised and intelligent animals. 

 If we are to be guided by this fact the echidna is much 

 below the birds in the scale of creation, though it is 

 extremely bird-like in its skull-formation. But both the 

 echidna and the platypus (for which see Chap. VIII.) are 

 far more intelligent animals than is generally thought. 

 In their cases brain development has little to do with 

 mental power. Both are extremely cautious animals, and 

 this one fact, if it stood alone, would prove them to be 

 possessed of a considerable power of thought, but it does 

 not by any means stand alone. Animals of a low mental 

 development are always lacking in the gift of self-protec- 

 tion. It is in the lowest forms of animal life that the 

 natural gifts of mimicry and protective-colouring are 

 found in greatest perfection. 



The echidna is a burrowing animal, and its power of 

 quickly burying itself must certainly be as great as that 

 which is reported to be possessed by the American 

 armadillos. The animal is always found on rocky ground 

 in the hills and never on the plains. I have caught them 

 on the highest plateaus of the Alps, the Sierras, the 

 Grampians, and the Pyrenees — that is, at an elevation of not 

 less than four thousand feet, and in some spots of perhaps 

 nearly five thousand feet ; but I never found the least sign 

 of the animal's presence in level country. In such ground 

 there are few, or no, soft places ; and indeed the echidna 

 dislikes damp spots, yet if it is suddenly come upon its 

 captor must be quick in seizing it, or it will be out of sight 

 in a few seconds. If surprised at a distance from its 

 burrow, it does not run for that shelter, but proceeds, 

 at once, to bury itself where it is. The head and shoulders 

 are under ground by the time an active man can run a 

 distance of thirty or forty yards ; and then such an exer- 

 tion of strength is required to draw it back that I have 

 frequently feared I should tear the animal asunder in 

 doing so. But it is tough, and after being subjected to a 

 tug that could not have been less than fifty to sixty 

 pounds in force, appeared to be quite unhurt. 



