THE  ORNITHORHYNCHUS  PARADOXUS. 
245 
of  the  river ;  but  they  eluded  all  the  endeavours  made  to  get  a  sufficiently  near  shot. 
I  repeatedly  heard  a  splash  in  the  water  at  one  particular  part  of  the  bank  whenever  I 
approached  it,  as  if  the  animals  had  retreated  to  the  land,  but,  unable  to  gain  their 
burrow  in  time,  had,  on  my  approach,  taken  again  to  the  water.  As  this  occurred  often 
about  the  same  place,  and  as  darkness  was  setting  in  rapidly,  I  marked  the  situation  of 
the  spot,  and  determined  to  examine  it  on  the  following  day,  and  ascertain  whether 
I  was  correct  in  my  supposition. 
Our  tawny  friend  Daraga  remarked  to  me  that  it  was  of  no  use  digging  up  burrows  • 
of  Water-Moles  now  for  "  pickaninny",  for  "  none  yet  tumble  down  from  mother";  but 
that  further  in  the  summer  season,  in  rather  "  more  than  one  moon,  plenty  pickaninny 
tumble  down  from  old  woman."  It  puzzled  him,  however,  to  form  a  conjecture  why, 
with  such  abundance  of  cattle,  sheep,  &c.,  we  wanted  Mallangongs. 
On  examining  the  cheek-pouches  or  the  stomachs  of  these  animals,  I  always  ob- 
served the  food  to  consist  of  river  insects,  very  small  shell -fish,  &c.,  which  were  con- 
stantly found  comminuted  and  mingled  with  mud  or  gravel :  this  latter  might  be  re- 
quired to  aid  digestion,  as  I  never  observed  the  food  unmingled  with  it.  The  natives 
say  that  they  also  feed  on  river-weeds  ;  but  as  I  have  never  seen  any  of  that  descrip- 
tion of  food  in  their  pouches,  I  cannot  confirm  the  correctness  of  the  statement 2.  The 
young  are  fed  at  first  by  milk,  and  afterwards,  when  sufficiently  old,  by  insects,  &c., 
mingled  with  mud.  "  All  same  you  white  feller,"  said  one  of  the  blacks  to  me  one 
day,  when  I  asked  him  on  what  the  young  moles  were  fed  by  the  "  old  women"  ; 
"first  have  milliken,  then  make  patta  (eat)  bread,  yam,"  &c. 
On  the  following  morning,  whilst  the  horses  were  saddling  for  a  ride  to  Mount  La- 
vinia,  the  farm  and  residence  of  Mr.  O'Brien,  on  Yas  Plains,  we  went  down,  accom- 
panied by  the  native  Daraga,  to  that  part  of  the  river  at  which  I  had  supposed  the 
Water-Mole  to  have  been  attempting  to  escape  into  its  burrow.  I  was  right  in  my 
conjecture,  for  near  the  spot  tracks  of  one  of  these  animals  were  very  distinctly  visible, 
and  we  traced  them  up  the  bank,  where,  amongst  some  long  grass,  the  entrance  was 
discovered ;  and  further  tracks  having  been  discovered  on  the  under  surface  of  the  in- 
terior, there  was  sufficient  to  determine  its  being  an  inhabited  burrow ;  an  opinion  to 
which  our  black  companion  Daraga  assented.  The  situation  was  one  admirably  calcu- 
lated for  digging,  as  the  bank  gradually  sloped,  and  was  neither  very  high  nor  steep  ; 
so  I  came  to  the  determination  to  explore  it.  This  was  done,  not  with  the  expectation 
of  meeting  with  any  young,  for  my  dissected  specimens  induced  a  contrary  opinion,  but 
from  a  desire  of  examining  the  internal  construction  of  the  burrows  formed  by  these 
'  The  name  by  which  the  natives  express  the  burrow  or  habitation  of  any  animal  is  guniar ;  and  the  same 
word  is  appHed  to  our  houses,  being  our  habitations. 
-  Mr.  George  MacLeay  informed  me  that  he  had  shot  some,  in  a  part  of  the  Wollondilly  River,  having  river- 
weeds  in  their  pouches  ;  but  he  further  observed  that  in  that  part  of  the  river  aquatic  insects  were  very 
scarce. 
2  K  2 
