i8o 
STRANGE DWELLINGS. 
CHAPTER XV. 
BUILDERS. 
Building Mammalia— Definition of the title — Inferiority of the mammalia as j 
architects — The Brush-tailed Bettong — Its structure and colour — The j 
Nest of the Bettong, and its adaptation to the locality — Singular method of |j 
conveying materials — Its nocturnal habits — The Musquash or Ondatra — f 
Its general habits — Its burrowing powers, and extent of its tunnels — The lj 
Musquash as a builder — Form and size of its house — Mode of killing the I 
aniifial. 
We now take our leave of the Pensiles, and pass to those animals ! 
which build, rather than burrow or weave. The materials used j! 
by the Builders are variable. In the most perfect examples, i 
earth is the material that is employed, but in many instances 
other substances such as wood, earth, and sticks are used by the j! 
architect. 
As a general rule the mammalia are by no means notable for j 
their skill in the construction of their houses. In making ) 
burrows they far excel all the other vertebrates both in the : 
length of the tunnels and in the elaborate arrangement of the 
subterranean domicile. The mole, for example, is pre-eminent 
as a burrower and as a subterranean architect, and there are 
many of the rodents which drive a whole labyrinth of tunnels 
through the soil. But they are very indifferent builders, and < 
with a few exceptions are unable to raise an edifice of any kind, ! : 
or to weave a nest that deserves the name. 
The first example of the Building Mammalia is the Pencilled 1 
Bettong ( Bettongia pencillato ), sometimes called the Brush- 
tailed Bettong, and often known by the name of Jerboa 
Kangaroo. The word Bettong is a native name for a group 
of small kangaroos that are easily recognised by the shape of 
