outward appearance the two creatures differ
greatly. The Echidna has some outward
likeness to the common hedgehog, but it is
considerably larger, and the spines with which it is
covered are stronger, intermingled with coarse
hair. The head is small, and there projects
from it along, round, bony snout, terminating
in a small mouth, thickly set on the inner
surface of the upper portion with small sharp
spines that slope inwards, and apparently
supply the place of teeth. Each foot is
furnished with five powerful claws, and by the
aid of these, and the boring apparatus
attached to its head, the Echidna buries itself
in the earth, when alarmed, with astonishing
rapidity. It feeds principally on ants,
securing them with its long slender tongue,
which appears to secrete a sticky mucilage
to which the insects become glued. I likened
this animal to a hedgehog, but its
resemblance to a bird, when seen at a short
distance, is much more complete. The mixture
of quills and hair—some of which is long,
fine, and silky—has the appearance of feathers;
the elongated snout is an exact model of a
beak, and the narrow pointed head, with the
eyes set low on the sides directly behind the
bill, is very bird-like in its form; whilst the
long crooked talons and plump rounded
figure, add considerably to the force of the
illusion. I am ashamed to appear sensual,
yet I must say that the Echidna is very good
eating. I have twice dined on him in the
bush, the spines and hair being removed by
scalding, and the animal cooked in the same
fashion as a sucking pig.

I come now to the one Australian specimen
of the Carnivorous brutes;—the Dingo or
the native Dog. Its Australian origin has
been abundantly confirmed by the reports of
all travellers into the interior, who assert
that packs of wild dogs are met with in
every part of New Holland into which
they have penetrated. All the early
navigators who held any intercourse with the
natives speak of their being attended by
numbers of half-wild dogs. The Dingo has all
the characteristics of the wolf; it is of the
same size, lighter in colour, with a fox-like
head and tail. It usually runs in packs of from
six to twelve in number, though it sometimes
hunts singly. Amongst the flocks of the
colonists these animals make a sad havoc, like
two-legged hunters. They are not content
with killing enough for their own wants, but
they mangle for their own pleasure. Rushing
furiously through the flocks they slay and
bite large numbers of the sheep, and scatter
the survivors, so that they are sometimes
altogether lost. In Tasmania the Dingo is
now unknown, and the flocks therefore are
not folded at night, but remain in the bush;
the side of a sheltered hill commonly being
chosen for their " camping ground." But in
Australia the ravages of this destructive
animal entail upon the settler the additional
expense of providing yards for his flocks, and
compel everywhere the constant attendance ot
the shepherds.

When men are travelling with sheep to
some distant station through a district infested
by wild dogs, it is customary to enclose them
at night in a yard made by felling trees in
different directions, so that the trunks and
branches form a square. Sometimes the flock
is merely gathered into a patch of comparatively
clear ground, round about which large
fires are lighted, and the men keep watch
alternately through the night. For this
kind of duty I had always an especial liking.
Many a long hour have I passed pleasantly by
the watch-fires, listening to the low breathings
and the tongueless voices of the mighty forest.
One route that I used often to traverse lay
through a tract of country remarkable for its.
magnificent timber, and for the unusual beauty
of the bush scenery. There, the wild dogs
were very numerous, and they gathered round
our camp at night, seldom appearing in sight,
but answering each other in long plaintive
howls that sounded through the still woods
with a mournful cadence. When a yell
sometimes arose unusually near and shrill, the
frightened flock within the fiery circle grouped
itself into a dense mass, or rushed frantically
to and fro half wild with terror.

I have little more to tell of the Australian
quadrupeds. Of the five species of Rodentia
three are merely varieties of the common rat
and mouse, and are perhaps of European
origin, having been introduced from ships
visiting the harbours. The other two are
amphibious, and like the water-rat, only a
little larger.

The two species of Cheiroptera, or winged
quadrupeds are a small bat possessing no
peculiar features, and a very large one, with
immense erect ears, now not often met with.
This bat Cook mentions as having been seen
by one of his crew, who returned to the ship
in extreme terror, declaring that he had seen the
devil, and described him as being as large as
a ten gallon keg, and ornamented with a
fearful pair of horns.

And that is all. Very few pages are sufficient
for a description of all the known Australian
quadrupeds, and of the animals here,
mentioned the great majority are very rarely
seen. Men have lived many years in the
colonies without ever meeting with a single
kangaroo or an opossum in its wild state:
yet those are the most common and most
widely spread of all tribes of four-legged
Australians.

Fossil remains of extinct animals of gigantic
dimensions have been discovered in Australia,
as in other parts of the world; but it is a
singular fact that, with one exception, the
whole of these bones are declared by eminent
naturalists to be the relics of marsupialia.
We may therefore conclude that there have
never existed in New Holland any animals of
a different type to those found there in our
own day; but that, at remote periods, when