DUCKBILL, or PLATYPUS, an aquatic egg-laying mammal. (Ornithorkynchus para doss°, native of the sluggish rivers of Australia, Papua and Tasmania. Its entire length from tip of bill to tip of tail is usually between 18 and 20 inches. Its body is rather long and covered with glossy blackish hair, close to the roots of which is a soft waterproof undercoat of fur similar to that of the beaver. The head is rounded, the eyes are small and bright and there are no external ears, despite which fact the creature's hearing is very acute. The feature which gives its name to the animal is the duck-like bill, which is the substitute for the muzzle of other animals. This bill is formed of the elongated jawbones covered with a highly sensitive, smooth skin; when-the teeth are shed, as they are at maturity, horny plates developed on both jaws take their place and do their work. The duckbill is well adapted to its aquatic and bur rowing habits. Its legs are short, its feet webbed and furnished with sharp claws. In the fore-feet the web extends far beyond the claws, but can be folded back out of their way. The tail is broad and flattened, covered with coarse hair and nearly naked on the other side. In habits the duckbill is almost entirely aquatic, spending its life in or near rivers, but carefully avoiding stagnant or brackish waters. In swim ming it propels itself mainly by the aid of its fore-feet, and it dives well. It is gregarious and
sometimes congregates in considerable numbers, but is so shy that unless one watches quietly at evening he will not see a single member of the company. The least hint of danger sends them all to the bottom. The food is often collected in the large cheek pouches, where it can be stored and conveniently carried home by the animal. Each pair lives in a burrow in the bank—a gal lery or passageway widened out at its interior extremity into a chamber, where the occupants sleep by day and whither the female retires to produce her young. She lays few eggs in her bed of dry grass, often only one, and hatches her young in a comparatively short time. When born they are naked and blind. The eggs are white, about three-fourths of an inch long by one-half inch wide and, unlike birds' eggs, have a soft and somewhat flexible shell — though, in their having a large amount of food-yolk, they resemble birds' eggs. The food consists of aquatic insects, crustaceans and worms, which live in the water or in the mud and which are found not only by the tactile sense in the bill but also by the unusually keen sense of smell. The voice is like the growl of an angry puppy, but the disposition is quiet and gentle.