In their dual capacity as foresters and wildlife officers, the rangers of the 1920s and 1930s kept meticulous records that make riveting reading ... An early supervisor wrote: On several occasions this summer, Ranger Paul Gilbert has discussed with me the matter of there having been found in Lily Lake, in the southern end of Blanca district, from two to four or five "Duck-bills." I have not been anxious to report this earlier, thinking that some mistake might have been made in the identity of these mammals. However, on my last trip to his station, and in a a trip over his district, I found that the existence of the mammals is known to several men and that several men are making an attempt to trap them. As I understand it, these are egg-laying, burrowing, aquatic mammals and are supposed to exist largely, and possibly only, in Australia. I have read somewhere that North America has none of these mammals, and if this be the case, I think the matter should be immediately invest...