The Royal Natural History (Volume 1)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895 Excerpt: ...on the leg, which appears to secrete a poisonous fluid. The tongue is small and non-extensile; while the cheeks are provided with pouches of considerable size, doubtless used for storing food. If it be a fully adult specimen that we examine, it will be found that in lieu of teeth each jaw carries two pairs of horny plates, of which the more anterior are sharp and narrow, while those behind are broad and flattened. Between these plates the palate is thrown into a number of transverse wrinkles, like those in a duck. In young specimens, however, two or three pairs of cheek-teeth may be observed in the upper, and two pairs in the lower jaw; most of these teeth being broadly quadrangular in form, with two cusps An one side, separated by a hollow from a longitudinal crenulated ridge on the other. As these teeth are gradually worn away by the sand taken into the mouth wjjh the food, the horny plates grow up beneath and around them, till they are eventually shed. That the ancestors of the duckbill were provided with a full series of persistent teeth is thus evident. Distribution. The duckbill is restricted to Southern and Eastern Australia and and Habits. Tasmania, where it is fairly common in places suited to its habits. Thoroughly aquatic in their habits, and exclusively frequenting fresh waters, duckbills are remarkably shy creatures, and rarely seen, except at evening, when they come up to the top of the water, and look like so many black bottles floating on the surface, --sinking down immediately if alarmed. By quietly watching the stream in the evening they may be easily shot, and they will readily take a bait on a hook. Although gregarious when in the water, these animals live in pairs in the burrows constructed in the banks; their favourite haunts being wher..