142 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 
been often seen in the act of constructing their 
_ houses in the moon-light nights, and the ob- 
servers agree, that the stones, wood, or other 
materials, are carried in their teeth, and generally 
leaning against the shoulder. When they have 
placed it to their mind, they turn round and give 
it a smart blow with their flat tail. In the act of 
diving they give a similar stroke to the surface 
of the water. They keep their provision of wood 
under water in front of the house. Their fa- 
vourite food is the bark of the aspen, birch, and 
willow ; they also eat the alder, but seldom touch 
any of the pine tribe unless from necessity; they 
are fond of the large roots of the nuphar lutea, and 
grow fat upon it, but it gives their flesh a strong 
rancid taste. In. the season of love their call 
resembles a groan, that of the male being the 
hoarsest, but the voice of the young is exactly 
like the ery of a child. They are very playful, 
as the following anecdote will shew:—One day 
a gentleman, long resident in this country, espied 
five young, beavers sporting in the water, leaping 
upon. the trunk of a tree, pushing one another 
off, and playing a thousand interesting tricks. — 
He approached softly, under cover of the bushes, 
and prepared to fire on the unsuspecting crea 
tures, but. a nearer approach discovered to him 
such a similitude betwixt their gestures and the 
