THE  ORNITHORHYNCHUS  PARADOXUS. 
257 
the  water  in  the  midst  of  their  gambols  ;  and  would  afterwards  retire,  when  tired,  to  the 
turf,  where  they  would  lie  combing  themselves.  It  was  most  ludicrous  to  observe  these 
uncouth-looking  little  beasts  running  about,  overturning  and  seizing  one  another  with 
their  mandibles,  and  then  in  the  midst  of  their  fun  and  frolic  coolly  inclining  to  one 
side  and  scratching  themselves  in  the  gentlest  manner  imaginable.  After  the  cleaning 
operation  was  concluded,  they  would  perambulate  the  room  for  a  short  time,  and  then 
seek  repose.  They  seldom  remained  longer  than  10  or  15  minutes  in  the  water  at  a 
time. 
At  first  I  was  inclined  to  consider  them  as  nocturnal  animals,  but  I  afterwards  found 
that  their  time  of  leaving  their  resting-place  was  exceedingly  irregular,  both  during  the 
day  and  night.  They  seemed,  however,  more  lively  and  more  disposed  to  ramble  about 
the  room  after  dark,  generally  commencing  about  dusk ;  but  all  their  movements  in 
this  respect  were  so  very  irregular  that  no  just  conclusions  could  be  drawn,  further 
than  that  they  were  both  night  and  day  animals,  preferring  the  cool  and  dusky  even- 
ing to  the  heat  and  glare  of  noon.  This  habit  was  not  confined  to  the  young  speci- 
mens, for  the  old  ones  were  equally  irregular,  sometimes  sleeping  all  day  and  becoming 
lively  at  night,  and  sometimes  the  reverse.  I  have  often  found  one  asleep  and  the  other 
running  about  at  the  same  period  of  the  day,  the  male  alone  first  leaving  the  nest  and 
the  female  remaining  asleep  :  he  would,  after  feeding  and  running  about  for  a  short 
time,  return,  curl  himself  up,  and  sleep,  and  then  the  female  would  leave  in  her  turn. 
Although,  however,  they  frequently  left  thus  alternately,  at  other  times  they  would 
suddenly  go  out  together.  One  evening,  when  both  were  running  about,  the  female 
uttered  a  squeaking  noise  as  if  calling  to  her  companion,  which  was  in  some  part  of  the 
room  behind  the  furniture,  and  was  invisible  ;  he  immediately  answered  her  in  a  similar 
note ;  and  noting  the  direction  from  which  the  answer  to  her  signal  came,  she  ran  at 
once  to  the  place  where  he  had  secreted  himself. 
It  was  very  ludicrous  to  see  the  uncouth  little  animals  open  their  mandible-like  hps 
and  yawn,  stretching  out  the  fore  paws,  and  extending  the  webs  of  the  fore  feet  to 
their  utmost  expansion. 
It  often  surprised  me  how  they  contrived  to  reach  the  summit  of  a  bookcase  or  any 
other  elevated  piece  of  furniture.  This  was  at  last  discovered  to  be  effected  by  the 
animal  supporting  its  back  against  the  wall,  and  placing  the  feet  against  the  bookcase, 
and  thus,  by  means  of  the  strong  cutaneous  muscles  of  the  back  and  the  claws  of  the 
feet,  contriving  to  reach  the  top  very  expeditiously.  They  performed  this  mode  of 
climbing  often,  so  that  I  had  frequent  opportunities  of  witnessing  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  done. 
The  food  I  gave  them  was  bread  soaked  in  water,  chopped  egg,  and  meat  minced  very 
small :  although  at  first  I  presented  them  with  milk,  they  did  not  seem  to  prefer  it 
to  water. 
Some  time  after  my  arrival  at  Sidney,  to  my  great  regret,  the  little  creatures  became 
