ORNITHORHYNCHUS PARADOXUS. 



necessary to confine her to the box. During tlie day 

 she would remain quiet, huddled up with her young 

 ones ; but at night she became very restless, and 

 eager to escape. The little ones were as frolicsome 

 as puppies, and apparently as fond of play : and 

 many of their actions were not a little ludicrous. 

 During the day they seemed to prefer a dark corner 

 for repose, and generally resorted to the spot to which 

 they had been accustomed, although they would 

 change it on a sudden apparently from mere caprice. 

 They did not appear to like deep water, but enjoyed 

 exceedingly a bathe in shallow water, with a turf of 

 grass placed in one corner of the pan : they seldom 

 remained longer than ten or fifteen minutes in the 

 water at one time. Though apparently nocturnal, 

 or at least preferring the cool and dusky evening to 

 the glare and heat of noon, their movements in this 

 respect were so irregular as to furnish no grounds 

 for a definite conclusion. They slept much, and it 

 frequently happened that one slept while the other 

 was running about, and this occurred at almost all 

 periods of the day. They climbed with great 

 readiness to the summit of a bookcase, placing their 

 backs against the wall and their feet against the 

 bookcase ; and thus, by means of their strong 

 cutaneous muscles and of their claws, mounting with 

 much expedition to the top. Their food consisted of 

 bread soaked in water, chopped egg, and meat minced 

 very small ; and they did not seem to prefer milk to 

 water. One of the young ones died on the 29th of 

 January 1833, and the other on the 2nd of February 



