The Duck-Billed Platypus. 
Ill 
THE DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS, OK WATER 
MOLE. (Ornithorhynchus paradoxus.) 
This extraordinary creature has the bill and webbed feet 
of a duck, united to the body of a mole. It is a native 
of Australia, where it is found on the banks of rivers, in 
the sides of which it burrows and forms its nest. It 
feeds on aquatic insects and small molluscous animals, 
always, however, rejecting the shells of the latter, after 
crushing them in its mouth, so as to extract the body. 
A number of these animals are always found together ; 
but it is very difficult to watch their habits, as their 
sense of hearing is so acute, that they disappear at the 
slightest noise, plunging into the water, in which they 
swim so low, that they only look like a mass of weeds 
floating on the surface. 
When the animal feeds, he plunges his beak into the 
mud, just like a duck; and appears to be equally at 
home on land and in water. Two young ones that were 
kept for some time at Sydney, by Mr. Bennet, were 
very fond of rolling themselves up like a hedgehog, 
in the form of balls. They often slept in this position, 
and " awful little growls " issued from them when dis- 
