THE DUCKBILL. 197 



animals alive, and so had many opportunities of watch- 

 ing their movements. With the aid of some natives, 

 he succeeded in digging a full-grown female out of the 

 burrow in which she lived, and, after it had become a 

 little used to captivity, experimented upon it. Taking 

 the precaution to fasten a long string to its hind leg, 

 he allowed it to swim about in a pond. It at once 

 made for the spot where aquatic weeds were floating, 

 and ranged between them and the weeds of the bank, 

 thrusting its beak among them, and evidently extract- 

 ing food. 



It took no notice of insects which had fallen into 

 the water and were fluttering on the surface, but 

 restricted itself to those which it obtained from the 

 mud. The movements of the beak were noticed to l>r 

 exactly like those of the duck's bill while feeding. 

 Having no teeth, but only four grooved bony plates 

 which act like mills, it cannot eat hard or large 

 morsels, and this is probably the reason why the float- 

 ing insects were disregarded. 



After a while, it climbed up the bank and began to 

 clean its fur, in which both the hind feet and the beak 

 were brought into requisition the latter being used 

 just like the beak of a bird among the feathers, and 

 producing a beautiful gloss on the fur. 



Stuffed specimens also distort the whole shape of 

 the body. In such specimens the skin is stuffed as 

 full of tow as a sausage of meat, and the body is almost 

 round; but, in the living specimen, the skin is 

 peculiarly loose, and forms a large fold along each side, 

 almost as conspicuous as that of the flying squirrel. 

 in consequence of this structure, the animal can force 



