THE  ORNITHORHYNCHUS  PARADOXUS. 
253 
Having  no  new  observations  on  these  extraordinary  animals  to  record  during  the 
remainder  of  my  stay  in  the  Tumat,  Murrumbidgee,  and  Yas  countries,  I  will  now 
continue  my  observations  in  another  field.  I  left  Yas  on  the  23rd  of  December,  and 
arrived  at  Lansdown  Park,  the  estate  of  Mr.  Bradley,  at  Goulburn  Plains,  on  the  24th. 
On  the  28th  of  December,  with  a  small  party  of  aborigines,  we  visited  a  very  beautiful 
part  of  the  WoUondilly  River,  which  passes  near  this  estate,  and  which  has  the  native 
name  of  Koroa.  It  was  a  noble  sheet  of  water,  extending  to  some  distance,  and 
abounded  in  Musk,  black,  and  other  kinds  of  Ducks,  as  well  as  in  various  descriptions 
of  Water-Fowl.  We  proceeded  to  explore  the  burrow  of  an  Ornithorhynchus  which  had 
been  discovered.  The  aborigines  used  their  hard  pointed  sticks  and  although  the 
ground  was  firm,  they  succeeded  as  quickly  as  we  could  have  done  with  our  spades. 
The  method  of  laying  open  the  burrow  was  by  holes  dug  above  at  certain  distances,  as 
I  have  before  described.  The  holes  were  opened  at  about  four  or  five  feet  apart,  a  stick 
being  passed  up  to  ascertain  the  direction  of  the  excavation. 
As  we  proceeded  in  exploring,  there  were  abundant  good  omens  to  encourage  us  ; 
for  besides  fresh  tracks  of  the  feet  of  the  animal,  pieces  of  grass,  weeds,  &c.,  such  as 
they  strew  at  the  bottom  of  the  termination  of  the  burrow  to  form  a  warm  nest 
for  their  young,  were  seen.  On  every  indication  of  the  presence  of  the  animal,  the 
older  blacks  quietly  passed  either  the  earth  from  the  under  surface  of  the  burrow  having 
recent  impressions  of  its  feet  or  tail,  or  the  pieces  of  grass,  reeds,  &c.,  to  one  another, 
for  the  opinion  of  each ;  and  if  in  favour  of  the  presence  of  the  animal,  the  digging 
up  of  the  burrow  was  continued,  the  indications  so  well  known  to  them  giving  fresh 
hopes  and  renewed  vigour  to  the  diggers.  The  extent  to  which  this  burrow  was 
continued  up  the  bank  in  a  serpentine  form  was  very  great ;  and  after  a  very  laborious 
task  in  exploring  it,  in  consequence  of  the  great  hardness  of  the  ground,  the  termina- 
tion was  attained  at  a  distance  of  thirty -five  feet  from  the  entrance  to  the  inhabited  part. 
Extensive  as  this  may  appear,  burrows  have  been  found  of  even  fifty  feet  in  length. 
On  arriving  at  the  termination  of  this  very  large  burrow,  a  growling  was  distinctly 
heard :  this  I  at  first  thought  proceeded  from  the  old  one,  which  I  now  believed  that  I 
should  have  an  opportunity  of  viewing  with  her  young ;  but  thinking  it  on  reconsi- 
deration more  probable  that  the  old  one  had  forsaken  them,  as  I  had  observed  during 
the  course  of  laying  open  the  burrow  that  we  had  not  seen  her  come  down,  in  the  usual 
manner,  to  ascertain  why  we  destroyed  her  habitation,  I  could  not  account  for  it,  more 
especially  when  the  burrow  at  its  termination  being  laid  a  little  more  open,  the  fur  of 
the  animal  or  animals  was  seen.  What  then  surprised  me  was,  that  although  there 
was  abundance  of  growling  there  was  no  movement  of  the  animals  to  escape.  On 
being  taken  out  they  were  found  to  be  full-furred  young  ones,  coiled  up  asleep,  and 
they  growled  exceedingly  at  being  exposed  to  the  light  of  day.  There  were  two,  a  male 
'  The  stick  used  for  this  purpose  is  called  Kiar  by  the  aborigines  :  the  same  name  is  also  given  in  their  lan- 
guage to  our  spade. 
2  L  2 
