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STRANGE DWELLINGS. 
and expressive of the two. The natives of Australia have several 
names for this remarkable animal ; some calling it Mallangong, 
others Tambreet, and others Tohunbuck — the second of these 
titles being most generally in use. 
On looking at a living Duckbill, few would set it down as an 
excavator of the soil ; yet it is a burrower, and makes tunnels of 
great length and some complexity. The soft broad membrane 
that extends beyond the claws while the animal is walking or 
swimming, and in the latter case forms a paddle by which the 
creature can propel itself swiftly through the water, falls back 
when the foot is employed for digging, and aids the animal in 
flinging back the soil which its claws have scraped away. The 
round body is admirably adapted for traversing the burrows, 
though the stuffed specimens which generally are seen in 
museums give but little idea of such capability. As a general 
rule, these stuffed specimens are much too long, too stiff, too 
straight, too flat, and too shrivelled. During life, the body is 
round, and the skin hangs in loose folds around it, having a very 
curious aspect when the creature is walking upon the land. The 
Duckbill is, in fact, so very odd a being, that dogs who see it for 
the first time, as it scrambles along with its peculiar waddling 
gait, will sit and prick up their ears, and bark at the strange 
animal, but will not dare to meddle with it ; while cats fairly 
turn tail, and scamper away from so uncanny a beast. The hair 
with which the body is so densely covered is admirably suited 
to an animal which passes its time in the water or underground. 
Next the skin there is a thick close coating of woolly fur, through 
which penetrates a second coat of long hairs, which are very 
slender at their bases, and can therefore turn in any direction, 
like those of the mole. The eyes are fuller and rounder than 
might be expected in an animal that passes so much of its time 
underground; but they are defended from the earth by a re- 
markable leathery flap, which surrounds the base of the man- 
dibles, and looks very like the leathern guard of a foil. This 
curious appendage has probably another use, and is intended to 
prevent the bill from being thrust too deeply into the mud when 
the animal is engaged in searching for food. 
