They lay their eggs earlier than 

 other birds, and often the falling snow 

 covers the back of the sitting bird. 

 The warmth of her body melts it so 

 that water runs gently down through 

 the nest and forms icicles that hang 

 below and glisten in the sunshine to 

 tell of the faithful conduct of the 

 mother owl. 



Small birds, as a rule, hate owls, and 

 they delight in gettinground these great 

 awkward fellows whenever they can 

 catch them by day and doing all they 

 can to hurt their feelings. Bird-catch- 

 ers sometimes catch small birds be- 



cause they are so fond of teasing owls. 

 An owl is caught and tied to a tree. 

 The tree is covered with sticky stuff 

 called bird lime. As soon as a little 

 bird sees the owl in the tree he cries to 

 his friends and they come in great 

 crowds to tease the owl. But the 

 small birds find their desire to torment 

 ends in their own capture, for they 

 cannot get away from the bird lime 

 until the trapper comes along and 

 gathers all the little birds that are 

 hanging to the sticky limbs and twigs 

 about the big bird they were trying to 

 tease. 



THE DUCK MOLE. 



WE ARE indebted to Dr. George 

 Bennett for the first good de- 

 scription of the duck mole ( Or- 

 nithorhynchus anatinus) which 

 was an object of wonder to naturalists 

 long after its discovery. This enthus- 

 iastic investigator traveled to Australia 

 for the sole purpose of observing the 

 animal. Up to that time little was 

 known of it. We simply knew that 

 the duck mole lives in the water and 

 was persistently hunted by the natives, 

 as it yielded a savory flesh and laid 

 eggs. The latter discovery was made 

 by Caldwell in 1884. 



The duck mole is about two feet 

 in length, six inches of which are in- 

 cluded in the tail. The males are 

 larger than the females. The legs are 

 very small, all four feet being five-toed 

 and webbed. All the toes are very 

 strong, blunt, and excellently adapted 

 for digging. The middle toes are the 

 longest. The tail is flat and is broad 

 at the end, the extremity being formed 

 by long hairs. It is abruptly cut off, 

 and in- old animals is either entirely 

 naked beneath of covered with a few 

 coarse hairs. In young animals it is 

 quite hairy. The adult animal has 

 only four horny teeth in its two jaws, 

 of which the upper front tooth is broad 

 and flat and resembles a grinder. 



The fur of the duck mole consists of 

 a coarse outer coat of a dark brown 

 color with a silvery-white surface tinge, 



and a very soft, grayish inner fur, sim- 

 ilar to that of the seal and the otter. A 

 peculiar fish-like odor is given forth by 

 the fur, especially when it is wet. The 

 Australians, however, are very fond of 

 the flesh of the animal in spite of its 

 disgusting odor. The duck mole is 

 said to be fondest of calm spots in 

 rivers filled with aquatic plants and the 

 banks of which are shaded by the dense 

 foliage of trees; and it constructs more 

 or less complicated burrows in the 

 banks. A tunnel about eighteen feet 

 long terminates in a large chamber, 

 both the chamber and its approaches 

 being strewn with dry aquatic plants. 

 The chamber usually has two entrances, 

 one below the surfaceof the water, and 

 the other about twelve inches above. 



The duck moles are seen at all times 

 in the rivers of Australia, especially 

 during the spring and summer. They 

 emerge from their retreats at dusk, 

 though they sometimes also appear in 

 the day time, searching for food. 

 When the water is clear, the observer 

 can follow with the eye the move- 

 ments of the animal as it dives and re- 

 appears above the surface. It likes to 

 stay near the shore, amidst the mud. 

 searching for its food between the roots 

 of the plants, where insects abound. 

 The mollusks which it captures in its 

 forays it stores temporarily in its cheek- 

 pouches and then consumes them at 

 greater leisure. 



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