THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
A duckbill spends its whole life in or near its chosen river, 
but with its companions is as shy and hard to get sight of as a 
beaver. Each pair digs and occupies a long burrow in the bank, 
entered beneath the water, and bedded in its chambered ex- 
tremity with grass, where they stay asleep through the daytime, 
and where the young are hatched. Bennett * gave the fullest 
account of their habits half a century ago. 
“The food consists of aquatic insects, small crustaceans and worms, 
which are caught under water, the sand and small stones at the bottom being 
turned over with the bill. The creatures appear at first to deposit what 
they have thuscollected in their cheek pouches, and when these are filled 
they rise to the surface and quietly triturate their meal with the horny plates 
before swallowing it.” This food is discovered in the mud by touch and by 
smell, of which those studied in captivity show a remarkably high develop- 
ment. The eyes are small and half hidden, but perfect and useful. The 
animal’s voice resembles the growl of a young puppy, but its disposition 
is gentle. 
The duckbill lays eggs which are white, .75 x .50 inch in dimensions, 
and contain a large amount of food yolk. Only a few eggs are laid at a 
time, often only one; and it is hatched in a short time. The young are 
blind and naked at birth, and suck their mother’s milk from a little pit in 
her nippleless breast. 
The spiny ant-eaters form a distinct family (Echidnide), with 
probably one highly variable species of the genus Echidna, 
found all over Australia, and a relative (Proechidna) 
in New Guinea. In both the body is small, 15 to 
18 inches long, broad and carried by very short, strong 
legs terminating in big claws. The head is small, and the nose 
prolonged into a slender snout covered with a moist black mem- 
brane like a dog’s nose. The mouth is without teeth, but the 
palate is studded with recurved spines, and the tongue is slender, 
extensile, and glutinous. The back is covered with stiff, hedge- 
hoglike spines, mixed with long, coarse hairs; and when dan- 
ger threatens it outside its burrow, it curls up much like a hedge- 
hog, so as to protect the under parts, which have no spines but 
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Echidnas. 
