42 



CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



black beads for eyes and a more liberal amount of 

 prickles might increase the likeness, but otherwise it 

 is not bad. The bill of a duckbUl resembles the beak 

 of a duck in almost every respect, but the biU of an 

 echidna looks like that of a snipe or woodcock. The 



Echidna. 



similarity in this case is, however, only a superficial 

 one. The bill of the echidna does not open ; it is a 

 mere tube or quill, on the outer end of which is placed 

 the nostrils, and the httle valve or flap that answers 

 the creature for a mouth. Through it is thrust out 

 the long, slim tongue, to which stick the ants or what- 

 ever food it eats. 



Its burrows are in the sand, but it also makes 

 use of the crevices of rocks for its dwelling place. 

 Its system of burrowing has never yet been fully in- 

 vestigated, but in ail probability consists — as do those 

 of most, if not all, mammals that are burrowers — of a 



