Page:Babyhood of Wild Beasts.djvu/152

122 spines, similar to a porcupine. They have long slender beaks, which they use with dexterity.

The Echidna has a pouch or deep pocket in her body like the Kangaroo. She lays eggs, two in number, picks them up with her beak and drops them in her pouch, where they are hatched. After the babies are out of the shells, they are suckled in the pouch.

I suggest to anxious parents, who earnestly desire to keep the small boy out of mischief, that they import a Platypus or Echidna from Topsy-Turvy Land, where the habits and appearance of the animals are as contrary to our expectations as that most interesting land itself.