638 



THE DUCK-BILE OR MULLINGONG. 



into the wound which it made, but this opinion has been disproved by Dr. Bennett, who fre- 

 quently permitted, and even forced the animal to wound him with its spurs, and experienced 

 no ill consequences beyond the actual wound. The animal has the power of folding back the 

 spur so as to conceal it entirely, and is then sometimes mistaken for a female. 



The color of the adult animal is a soft dark brown, interspersed with a number of glisten- 

 ing points which are produced by the long and shining hairs which protrude through the inner 

 fur. Upon the abdomen the fur is a light fawn, and even softer than on the back. The under 

 surface of the tail is devoid of hair — denuded, as some think, in forming its habitation — and 

 the upper surface is covered with stiff, bristly hairs, brown towards the base and quite black 

 at the extremity. The first coat of the young Duck-bill is always a bright, reddish -brown. 



It can run on land and swim in water with equal ease, and is sufficiently active to be able 

 to climb well. Some of the animals that were kept by Dr. Bennett were in the habit of ascend- 



DUCKBILL, OR MULLINGONG.— Onithorhyiickm parado.itts. 



ing a perpendicular book-case, performing this curious feat by placing their backs against the 

 wall and the feet upon the shelves, and so pushing themselves upwards as a sweep ascends the 

 chimney. Its pace is not very swift, but it gets over the ground with ease. The burrow in 

 which the Mullingong lives is generally from twenty to forty feet in length, and always bends 

 upwards, towards a sort of chamber in which the nest is made. This nest is of the rudest 

 description, consisting of a bundle of dried weeds thrown carelessly together. The burrow has 

 a very evil odor, which is unpleasantly adherent to the hand that has been placed within it. 



Owing to the extremely loose skin of the Mullingong, it can push its way through a very 

 small aperture, and is not easily retained in the grasp, wriggling without much difficulty from 

 the gripe of the fingers. The loose skin and thick fur are also preventives against injury, as 

 the discharge of a gun which would blow any other animal nearly to pieces, seems to take but 

 little external effect upon the Duck -lull. The animal is, moreover, so tenacious of life, that 

 one of these creatures which had received the two charges of a double-barrelled gun was able, 

 after it had recovered from the shock, to run about for twenty minutes after it had been 

 wounded. 



The food of the Mullingong consists of worms, water insects, and little mollusks, which it 

 gathers in its cheek-pouches as long as it is engaged in its search for food, and then eats quietly 

 when it rests from its labors. The teeth, if teeth they may be called, of this animal are very 

 peculiar, consisting of four horny, channelled plates, two in each jaw, which serve to crush 

 the fragile shells and coverings of the animals on which it feeds. It seems seldom to feed 

 during the day, or in the depth of night, preferring for that purpose the first dusk of evening 



