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him every time. The female paddles about upon the surface, and 

 occasionally performs somersaults in the water ; the male sometimes 

 comes up, but dives rapidly down again. The female floats upon 

 the water without any apparent paddling, and remains in a sort of 

 half-immersed position for a great length of time, with the beak 

 lying flat upon the water. If any dust comes near the sensitive 

 nostrils, a bubbling of water is seen to issue from them, as if to drive 

 away the irritating substance ; and, if this does not succeed, the beak 

 IS washed in the water to remove it. 



January 1st, 1859. — Both the animals this morning had a sleek, 

 healthy, and lively appearance ; they did not require to be taken 

 out of the box to be placed in the tub of water, but ran in themselves 

 as soon as the lid of the box was opened. On entering the water 

 they turned and gamboled about, and then reclined on one side, 

 scratching themselves with the hind claws. They would permit me 

 to touch them without being disturbed ; indeed they had become so 

 tame as to allow me to tickle and scratch them gently, and appeared 

 to enjoy it very much. They generally remained half-submerged in 

 the water ; it is only when touching the sensitive mandibles that they 

 would dive down ; but even then they would not remain long under 

 water. Their favourite position was half-submerged, with the man- 

 dibles resting down upon the surface of the water. 



The female is languid and weak, but the male continues vigorous, 

 diving and swimming about. When in the water they play toge- 

 ther, occasionally tumbling one over the other, and then remain on 

 the surface of the water, gently combing their fur. No attempt 

 was ever made (even when he growled at being disturbed) by the 

 male to injure or even scratch with the spur. When I took the male 

 out or disturbed him at night, he growled, and afterwards made a 

 peculiar shrill whistling noise, as if a signal call to his companion. 

 It is principally in the evening and at night that these animals are 

 in the habit of coming out of their burrows to sport and feed both 

 in the water and upon the banks. On retiring to their burrows to 

 repose, they roll themselves up like furred balls. 



January 2nd. — The female appeared quite exhausted this evening. 

 On being placed in the water, it paddled feebly about, and then, 

 dropping its head, sank. On removing it, I found it was dead. It 

 appeared, on examination, to be in poor condition. 



January 3rd. — The male does not appear to be thriving, but I 

 have now a large tub prepared for his reception, in which I have 

 made the following arrangements : — The tub is 3 feet 6 inches in 

 length by I foot 9 inches broad, and 2 feet deep. At one end I have 

 had a wooden enclosure made, which was partially filled with earth 

 and a sprinkling of straw ; this attempt to imitate the burrow was 

 12 inches deep and 15 inches in length. I then placed sand from 

 a pond a few inches deep in the tub, in which I planted some fresh 

 plants of Bamasonium ovatum and other river plants fl'om a pond 

 in the Botanic Gardens. The tub was filled with water up to 

 an inclined plane, which was turfed like a bank ; a level space was 

 also left, on which turf was placed, so that the animal might repose 



