USfiJUtY U. OF t. ttftaA/eA-CSASIPAtSH 
The Platypus. 
Nooral, Victoria, Australia, Oct. 1 6 .— Editor 
Forest and Stream: One morning, when I was 
quite a youngster, I got up soon after daylight 
to inspect several rabbit traps that I had sec 
the previous evening along the creek bank. 
There were rabbits in the first two traps, but in 
the third there was an animal that I had never 
seen before. It lay very quietly in the trap, 
which had caught one of its hind legs. It. was 
so quiet, indeed, that I incautiously lifted it up 
—after I had released the trap—in my hands 
to examine it. And just as I had discovered 
that it was a platypus, it made a sudden and 
very vigorous struggle, dug its spur into my 
bare arm and got away. Before I got home, 
my arm was swelling badly, and in twenty-four 
hours it was so big and red that my mother be¬ 
came alarmed. It was over a week before I 
could use the arm again. I have since heard 
it hotly argued whether the spur of the platypus 
is poisonous or not, and the result of my ex¬ 
perience is that sometimes—probably at mating 
time—it is, and sometimes it isn’t. 
The platypus is certainly the most interesting 
member of an interesting fauna. .When you 
look at one and noticed its curious, flattened, 
duck-like bill, its webbed feet, its mole-like 
claws, its beaver-like tail, and when you learn 
that it lays eggs, but afterward suckles its 
young, you are not surprised at the preliminary 
scepticism of European zoologists. The first, 
and roughly-prepared, specimen taken to 
Europe was, as a matter of fact, declared to be 
a “fake,” and said to be a rather clumsy com¬ 
pound of two or three animals. This mistake 
was excusable, especially as the platypus loses 
more in the process of preservation after death 
than any other animal with which I am ac¬ 
quainted. 
The delicate, loose skin behind the bill 
shrivels up and becomes unsightly, and the 
same thing takes place with the webbed feet, 
while the fur takes on a rusty and unattractive 
color. As a matter of fact, the fur of the living 
animal is only attractive so long as the platy¬ 
pus is in its native element, the water. When 
the fur is dry, a number of coarse hairs stand 
out all over the upper surface of the body. 
These are all carefully picked out by those who 
prepare the skins for use. The soft, shortish 
fur that is left is of a beautiful, silky texture, 
and almost resembles Genoa velvet. Usually it 
is dyed a darker and richer brown than it is 
naturally. 
The platypus is found over the greater part 
of Australia, the only exception being that por¬ 
tion which lies within the tropics. Its chief 
habitat, however, is the States of Victoria and 
New South Wales. The State of Victoria has 
always been the favorite haunt of the animal: 
and to-day this State contains more of them 
than any other portion of the continent. Vic¬ 
toria has a fairly extensive river system, many 
of the rivers having their source in the wooded 
recesses of our long, central, mountain chain. 
The rivers are rarely very large, and they wind 
in and out of dark leafy dells, with a continuous 
succession of quiet pools. There is little or no 
settlement in many of these river fastnesses, 
and some of them are almost unexplored. 
These pools are the home of the platypus. 
It revels in a quiet, shaded pool of limpid 
mountain water, where the bank of friable 
volcanic soil allows it to easily scoop out its 
curious double burrow, and where insectivorous 
life is plentiful. The platypus is the shyest of 
all bush animals, and, like the lyre-bird, soon 
shifts its home when disturbed by the presence 
of man. Even in the quietest of its secluded 
haunts, it does not usually leave its burrow be- , 
fore sundown. I have, however, seen it abroad 
in daylight. One afternoon, while trapping, I 
was about to cross a flooded creek by means 
of a fallen tree, when I saw what looked like 
a piece of driftage floating up the stream. 
This latter fact attracted my attention; and 
standing perfectly still, I saw the object ap¬ 
proach the log, sink silently into the water and 
PLATYPUS. 
reappear on the other side. I then recognized 
a platypus, which, upon my making a move¬ 
ment, instantly disappeared under water. But 
the short twilight and the moonlight are its 
favorite times for going abroad for food and for 
playing; and with ordinary care, you can then 
watch them for hours at a time. 
It is a quaint little thing, swimming noiseless¬ 
ly up and down the pool which it has made its 
home, or dropping into the water from an 
overhanging log, with a peculiar flop. At night, 
like the ’possum, it forages for grubs and in¬ 
sects along the river margins, and among the 
reeds. Often, when eel-fishing at night, I have 
seen a platypus swimming about the quiet pool, 
and occasionally two of them playing. It is an 
excellent swimmer and dives splendidly, being 
able to remain under water for several minutes. 
So that, if alarmed, it quickly disappears, and 
is very difficult to follow. Often in these in¬ 
stances it swims under water to its burrow, one 
opening into which is always below the water¬ 
line, while the other is usually well concealed, 
though above the water. Its hearing is not 
good, and it depends chiefly upon its sight, so 
that all the hunter has to do is conceal himself. 
It seems quaint to imagine the platypus sitting 
on its two eggs like a hen. Still, that is what 
she does. The eggs, which have a very tough 
skin, or envelope, are laid in the end of 
burrow, where they are pretty safe. There 
the pitchy darkness the queer little mot 
hatches’ her pair of young. When they | 
hatched, she suckles them at a pair of v 
small —indeed almost rudimentary— nipp. 
Soon they are able to get about, and while q 
small, they may be seen swimming with he: 
the pool. 
In the early days of Victoria, every creel 
my district carried a number of platypus, 
most every pool having its tenants. They h 
however, decreased greatly, although even 
day there are platypi within an hour’s wall 
where I am writing. Owing to its quiet and 
tiring habits, platypi are often present witll 
being suspected, and this frequently prev 
them from being molested. 
The most curious misadventure that I 1 
ever seen happen to a platypus occurred 
a few years ago. An old bushman was ni 
netting a river, and on examining his hau 
found a dead platypus. It had got entan ; 
in the net and was drowned. 
To me the quaintest characteristic of! 
platypus is that it is oviparous. Nothing ir : 
appearance of the animal—not even its di 
shaped bill—seems to suggest that it lays fj 
For it appears to be of the same mamrn; 
order as the phalangers (’possums) bandio 
and water rats, which may be called its i 
freres.. But it was a fitting climax to the: 
covery that such large animals as the kang 
and the koala (native bear) had only a 1 
mentary placenta, to find an animal a 
further back in the evolution of the man 
Upon minutely inspecting the platypus,! 
feels that he is investigating an almost! 
historic animal, which has hardly anythir. 
common with the animals of to-day. 
Considering this fact, it is a remarkable 
that until the advent of the white man! 
platypus was holding its own valiantly. I 1 
early days it was common in every rivei 
creek. It had practically no natural ene. 
There was nothing in the rivers to prey J 
on the animals themselves or even their : 
unless, perhaps, an unusually large and h' 
eel swallowed a small platypus. Some wjj 
have declared that the aborigines are fo' 
their flesh; but this is an error, as they wij 
use it unless almost starving. Neither dd 
seem to have bothered about its skin, c 
’possum served them well in this respect 
bird of prey troubles it, as its nocturnal 1 
and the secluded nature of its haunts for 
almost absolute protection. Stiil, it is j! 
ally dying out, although this process is 
to be a very long one. It is unable to res 
steady encroachment of settlers upon its h- 
who, as a rule, are not naturalists, and ar- 
troubled with sentiment. 
Frank C. Sm 
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