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MR.  G.  BENNETT  ON  THE  HISTORY  AND  HABITS  OF 
winter  season.  The  accompanying  sketch  of  the  burrow  and  locality  conveys  some  idea 
of  their  appearance  as  well  as  situation. 
,  On  my  return,  after  an  absence  of  two  days  at  the  Murrumbidgee,  I  found  my  living 
specimen  well,  it  having  been  kept  confined  during  that  time  in  the  cask,  which  formed 
a  very  safe  prison.  I  had  now  determined  to  leave  this  part  of  the  country  for  Sidney, 
to  forward  to  England  the  preparations  of  the  animal  which  I  had  already  made  ;  and 
believing  that  this  specimen,  if  it  survived  the  journey,  and  proved  to  have  been  im- 
pregnated, would  determine  whether  the  animal  was  or  was  not  ovo viviparous,  on 
the  13th  of  October  I  took  my  departure,  carrying  it  with  me  in  a  small  box,  with 
grass,  &c.,  which  was  covered  by  battens,  having  very  narrow  spaces  left  between. 
On  disturbing  it,  it  being  at  the  time  asleep,  to  place  it  in  the  travelling-box,  it- 
uttered  several  savage  growls.  It  arrived  safely  on  the  14th  at  Lansdown  Park, 
the  estate  of  Mr.  Bradley.  Here  I  availed  myself  of  the  vicinity  of  some  ponds,  (also 
inhabited  by  these  animals,)  to  give  it  a  little  recreation.  On  opening  the  box  it 
was  lying  in  a  corner,  contracted  into  a  very  small  compass,  and  fast  asleep.  I 
tied  a  very  long  cord  to  its  hind  leg,  and  roused  it,  in  return  for  which  I  received 
numerous  growls.  When  placed  on  the  bank  it  soon  found  the  way  into  the  water,  and 
travelled  up  the  stream,  apparently  delighting  in  those  places  which  most  abounded  in 
aquatic  weeds.  Although  it  would  dive  in  the  deep  water,  it  appeared  to  prefer 
keeping  close  to  the  bank,  occasionally  thrusting  its  beak  (with  a  motion  similar  to 
that  of  the  Duck  when  it  feeds)  among  the  mud  and  at  the  roots  of  the  various  weeds 
lining  the  margin  of  the  ponds,  and  which  we  may  readily  suppose  to  be  the  resort  of 
insects.  After  it  had  wandered  some  distance  up  the  chain  of  ponds,  feeding  about  the 
