1 797-] 



OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



All thofe hands who were not employed on the public buildings 

 were actively engaged in fecuring the abundant crops which every- 

 where promifed to reward the induftry of the fettler and the labourer. 



The 



The male is ryf inches in length, from the point of the bill to the extremity of the tail. The 

 hill is 2 f inches long ; and the tail, measuring from the anus, 4! inches. 



The body of the animal is compreffed, and nearly of the fame general thicknefs throughout ; 

 except at the moulders, where it is rather fmaller. The circumference of the body is 1 1 inches. 

 There is no fat depofited between the fiun and the mufcles. 



In the female, the fize of the body is rendered proportionately larger than that of the male, 

 hy a quantity of fat lying every where under the fkin. 



The male is of a very dark brown colour on the back, legs, bill, and tail; the under furfacc 

 of the neck and belly is of a filver grey. In the female the colour is lighter. 



The hair is made up of two kinds ; a very fine thick fur, one half of an inch long, and a very 

 uncommon kind of hair, three quarters of an inch long. The portion next the root has the com- 

 mon appearance of hair; but for a quarter of an inch towards the point it becomes flat, giving 

 it fome faint refemblance to very fine feathers : this portion has a glofs upon it ; and when the 

 hair is dry, the different reflections from the edges and furfaces of thefe longer hairs give the 

 whole a very uncommon appearance. The fur and hair upon the belly is longer than that upon 

 the back. 



Externally, there is no appearance of the organs t)f generation in either fex ; the orifice of 

 the anus being a common opening to the rectum and prepuce in the male, and to the rectum 

 and vagina in the female. 



There was no appearance, that could be detected, of nipples ; although the moft accurate fearch 

 was made. 



The head is rather compreffed. The bill, which projects beyond the mouth, in its appearance 

 refembles that of the duck ; but is in its ltructure more like that of the fpoon-bill, the middle 

 part being compofed of bone, as in that bird : it has a very {hong cuticular covering. 



The noilrils are two orifices, very clofe to each other, near the end of the bill ; the upper lip 

 projecting three quarters of an inch beyond them. 



The eyes are very fmall ; they are fituated more upon the upper part of the head than is 

 tifual, and are directly behind the loofe edge of the cuticular flap belonging to the bill. The 

 eye-lids are circular orifices concealed in the hair, and, in the male, are with difficulty difcovered j 

 but in the female there is a tuft of lighter hair which marks their lituation. 



The external ears are two large flits, directly behind the eyes, and much larger than the orifices 

 of the eye-lids. 



The teeth, if they can be fo called, are all grinders ; they are four in number, fituated in the 

 poilerior part of the mouth, one on each fide of the upper and under jaw, and have broad flat 

 crowns. They differ from common teeth very materially, having neither enamel nor bone, but 

 being compofed of a horny fubftauce only, embedded in the gum, to which they are connected 



3 1 2 h J 



