Page:Babyhood of Wild Beasts.djvu/147

 CHAPTER XII

ROM Australia, the Land of Topsy-Turvy, comes the Duck-billed Platypus. In appearance, our duck-billed friend is a contradiction of all a self-respecting animal should be. He is about the size of a prairie dog with soft, dark brown fur similar to an otter's, but instead of having a perfectly proper mouth and feet, as should be expected of him, he contradicts our expectations and shocks us by having a bill like a duck, webbed feet, and lays eggs like a bird, leaving us mystified and wondering which he is—bird or beast?

The mother Platypus lays her eggs in a burrow, and broods them like a bird. The eggs are two in number, measuring three inches in length by two-thirds of an inch in diameter. The shells of the eggs are flexible, like snake or turtle egg shells. 119