r8o STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



CHAPTER XV. 



BUILDERS. 



Building Mammalia— Definition of the title — Inferiority of the mammalia ai 

 architects— The Brush-tailed Bettong — Its structure and colour— llie 

 Nest of the Bettong, and its adaptation to the locality — Singular method ol 

 conveying materials — Its nocturnal habits — The Musquash or Ondatra — 

 Its general habits — Its burrowing powers, and extent of its tunnels — The 

 Musquash as a builder — Form and size of its house — Mode ol killing the 

 animal. 



We now take our leave of the Pensiles, and pass to those animals 

 which build, rather than burrow or weave. The materials used 

 by the Builders are variable. In the most perfect examples, 

 earth is the material that is employed, but in many instances 

 other substances such as wood, earth, and sticks are used by the 

 architect. 



As a general rule the mammalia are by no means notable for 

 their skill in the construction of their houses. In making 

 burrows they far excel all the other vertebrates both in the 

 length of the tunnels and in the elaborate arrangement of the 

 subterranean domicile. The mole, for example, is pre-eminent 

 as a burro wer and as a subterranean architect, and there are 

 many of the rodents which drive a whole labyrinth of tunnels 

 through the soil. But they are very indifferent builders, and 

 with a few exceptions are unable to raise an edifice of any kind, 

 or to weave a nest that deserves the name. 



The first example of the Building Mammalia is the Pencilled 

 Bettong {Betfofigia pencillatd)^ sometimes called the Brush- 

 tailed Bettong, and often known by the name of Jerboa 

 Kangaroo. The word Bettong is a native name for a group 

 of smdll kangaroos that are easily recognised by the shape of 



