On the Habits of the Beaver. 91 



which are given them as food, and preserve them there imlil 

 needed. 



The animals have covered over the two doors of their dwell- 

 ing apartment, but have left open the entrance which faces a 

 small tank or pool of water, contained within the enclosure, in 

 which they are confined. 



I was curious to examine the materials of which the little 

 plasterers had availed themselves in their operations. I found 

 that they had procured the mud from the bottom of the tank, 

 bringing up handfuls at a time. This they had carefully tem- 

 pered, and intermixed with thin shreds, and splinters of wood, 

 the remains of the faggots which had been given them as food, 

 and from which they had gnawed all the bark and nutritious 

 portions, leaving only the woody fibres, which, however, they 

 turned also to account. The use of the introduction of these 

 shreds, was evidently to give stability to the plaster, to make 

 the mud bind, and in this respect they served the same pur- 

 pose as the straw which the Egyptians employed as one of the 

 necessary ingredients in the composition of bricks. 



As the object to be gained by the beavers was merely to ren- 

 der the door weather-tight, no. sort of frame-work was required 

 in this process, and they seem to have used very few large 

 sticks, but merely this kind of mortar, consisting of the slime 

 interspersed with woody fibres. 



Much has been said of the effects which captivity produces, 

 in depraving the instinct peculiar to the beaver in its wild state. 

 1 think, however, that it must be evident from the facts which 

 have been stated above, that the animals were influenced by a 

 feeling, that the habitation prepared for them differed from that 

 to which they had been accustomed in their native country. 

 The improvements which they introduced into their dwelling, 

 may serve to correct an error in natural history, which had been 

 pointed out by Heame, viz. that the beaver forms more than 

 one entrance to its house. The proceeding of the animal in 

 this instance, in closing up two outlets, tends to corroborate the 

 assertion of the northern traveller. 



Independent of these external arrangements, in order to make 

 themselves more comfortable, they have effected what may be 

 btilcd the fitting up of the inside of their house. They have 



