IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 37 
water perfectly, and outside of that are long hairs, so slender where 
they join the skin, that they will turn equally well either way. You 
couldn't stroke a duckbill the wrong way, as you can your kitten — 
there is no wrong way. That coat keeps the dirt out, and as half 
his life is spent in the water, and the other half in the dirt, you see 
he is perfectly well suited for both. 
Everyway you look at him he is marvelously fitted, for his. 
work. His claws are splendid to dig with, and the webs between 
his toes make them paddles to swim with. The bill is broad and 
flat to dig about in the soft mud for his food — which is worms or 
grubs — but it has a leathery rim at the top, to prevent its going too 
far in, and to keep the dirt out of his bright eyes. 
When he wants a safe home for the droll little Duckbill babies,, 
he goes to work to prepare it in as cunning a way as though he had 
the wisdom of all the creatures he resembles. His front door he 
makes in the bank of a river or pond, above the water, but carefully 
hidden by weeds and plants, and his back door opens under water, 
quite out of the reach of boys or land animals. Thus he has al- 
ways a safe passage to his home, whatever pursues him. 
These openings lead through a long winding passage, some- 
times as much as fifty feet long — though generally about thirty feet 
— to a snug oval shaped nursery at the end. In this room a warm 
dry bed of grass is made, and here the little Duckbills stay till 
grown. There are generally two babies at a time, sometimes more. 
The Duckbill is not an easy fellow to catch, nor to hold when 
he is caught, for his skin fits him very loosely, and he slips through 
the hands as though he was oiled. 
He can be tamed, and is a good climber. One, of whom Mr. 
Wood tells, would climb to the top of a book case, by putting his 
back against the wall, and walking up the book case. He is about 
eighteen inches long. 
When swimming about in the water, he looks, if possible, more 
odd than when on land, for he more nearly resembles a bundle of 
floating weeds than anything else. 
One naturalist tells a strange story of the way in which 
Mamma Duckbill feeds her babies. They eat only milk, and the 
story goes that she takes them out into the pond, and gives out her 
milk into the water. It rises at once to the top, and the little ones 
eat it from there. This is very odd, but everything about the 
family is odd, and it may possibly be true. 
