Examined at leisure, the marvellous animal was found to have cheek pouches something like those of a squirrel, and evidently very convenient as baskets for carrying food through the long tunnel which led to its room. The temper of the creature seemed gentle; it made no noise either for joy or pain, but a low whining sound, or, if irritated, a soft growl. At first its owner thought it entirely defenceless, but the old native showed him the spurs, and gave instances where when angered the animal kicked out with its hind feet and inflicted a long deep scratch, which was followed by symptoms of poisoning. On examination it was found that the spur was traversed through all its length by a tiny canal, which led to a gland or sac at the upper part of the leg; the whole arrangement being very like the poison gland and fang of a snake. This spur is present in a rudimentary state in all young mallangongs; in the grown females it disappears, and in the males it very greatly enlarges, no doubt because they are expected to do the fighting for the entire family. This animal, popularly called by foreigners a “duck-bill,” and by scientific people a “bird-nosed-paradox,” is about twenty inches in entire length; it has its bill covered with tough skin, and finished where it joins the head with a fold or ruffle of skin; the fur is soft, fine, thick, deep-brown above, and paler on the under part of the body. The web in the hind-feet falls short of the strong toe nails, but on the front feet it extends beyond the toes, so that when the feet strike upon the water a broad surface is produced, enabling it to swim and dive swiftly and silently. The duck-bill is entirely aquatic in its habits and never lives far from water, making its tunnel with the round chamber, in the bank of a pond or stream, so that it can come from its front door and betake itself instantly to its favorite element. Its manner of digging is like that of a mole. While digging it contracts or folds back the superfluous skin or web of its fore-feet. The burrow has two doors, one just above, the other below the water-line. The tunnel is from twenty to fifty feet long, and the room at the end is lined with dried grass and leaves, affording a soft bed for the young, which are there reared until they are able to swim and forage for themselves in the water. The food of the duck-bill, or mallangong, is generally found in the bottom of the stream or pond; the animal dives, turns over the stones with its spade-like bill, and finds in the ooze worms, small crabs, the larvæ of beetles, and water insects. Filling its cheek pouches with this prey it ascends to the surface and swims quietly about, while it carefully grinds its food into pulp with the bony, tooth-like projections of the jaws. In this careful mastication the lowest of the mammals sets some of the highest of the mammals a fine example.