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. 
E 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 or 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, 
80 
and a very soft, grayish inner fur, sim- 
ilar tothat of the seal andthe 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. 
