STRANGE ANIMALS AND THEIR WATS. 379 



reared. It can walk and run rapidly on the land and climb 

 trees. So far, it is quite like many of the mammals. 



4. Its toes are webbed, and, when spread out, the mem- 

 brane reaches beyond their extremities. Its tail is broad 

 and flat, serving as a. rudder in the water. But its most 

 peculiar feature is a broad, flat bill, which gives to it its 

 popular name of duck-bill. Its bony structure is a cross be- 

 tween a reptile and a bird, and its internal organs are mostly 

 those of a bird. It swims and dives readily, and feeds 

 Upon the worms and insects which it turns up at the bot- 

 tom after the manner of a duck. When standing upon its 

 hind legs, with its short fore legs drawn in toward its breast, 

 it resembles the penguin. In these particulars it is most 

 like a bird. 



5. It is cleanly, and is fond of warmth and dryness. 

 It is nocturnal in its habits, lying in its nest rolled, up 

 like a ball during the day, and coming out at night in 

 search of food. It can remain under water seven or eight 

 minutes at a time. In one particular it is unlike any 

 other animal known ; the mother emits her milk in the 

 water, and this rises to the surface, where it is sucked up 

 by the young ones. 



6. Its activities are as paradoxical as its structure. It 

 can crawl like a tortoise, run like a badger, swim like a 

 fish, dive like a duck, dig like a mole, and climb like a 

 squirrel. In both structure and habit it is clearly a survi- 

 val of forms which once existed all over the surface of the 

 earth, but which are now elsewhere extinct ; and it may 

 justly be regarded as a living link connecting the present 

 with the long past. 



26 



