LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



owned that the scaly integument which invests 

 that member has not much of the character which 

 generally belongs to absorbing surfaces. 



It has been asserted, and in some degree proved, 

 that the song of birds depends on that which they 

 first hear ; but their nest-making seems to be the 

 result of innate instinct. Binny must have been 

 captured too young to have seen any of the build- 

 ing operations of his parents or their co-mates, 

 but his instinct impelled him to go to work under 

 the most unfavorable circumstances ; and he busied 

 himself as earnestly in constructing a dam, in a 

 room up three pair of stairs in London, as if he 

 had been laying his foundation in a stream or lake 

 in Upper Canada. 



Bread, and bread and milk and sugar, formed 

 the principal part of Binny's food ; but he was 

 very fond of succulent fruits and roots. Tender 

 twigs, especially of the willow, were greatly to 

 his taste, and he would handle them very adroitly, 

 drawing them through his fore-paws, which he 

 closed on them much as a basket-maker would 

 do when trying a twig, though less perfectly of 

 course. 



An animal so sociable in his habits ought to be 

 affectionate ; and very affectionate the beaver is 

 said to be. Drage mentions two young ones, 

 which were taken alive and brought to a neigh- 

 boring factory in Hudson's Bay, where they 

 throve very fast until one of them was killed acci- 

 dentally. The survivor instantly felt the loss, began 

 to moan, and abstained from food till it died. Mr. 

 Bullock mentioned to the narrator a similar instance 

 which fell under his notice in North America. 

 A male and female were kept together in a room, 

 where they lived happily till the male was deprived 

 of his partner by death. For a day or two he 

 appeared to be hardly aware of his loss, and brought 

 food and laid it before her ; at last, finding that 

 she did not stir, he covered her body with twigs 

 and leaves, and was in^a pining state when Mr. 

 Bullock lost sight of him. 



With no slight regret the writer adds a third 

 example in the death of his pet. The housekeeper 

 was very fond of Binny, always consulting his 

 comfort and appetite, making his bed warm, and 

 treating him frequently to Sally Lunns and plum- 

 cake, till he became the most plump and sleek of 

 beavers ; and the attachment was reciprocal. At 

 last, on the writer's departure from London for 

 some time, he thought that Binny, who had grown 

 excessively fat, would be the better for exercise and 

 change of air, and would be more comfortable if 

 sent to pay a visit to the Tower of London and 

 expatiate there. Mr. Cops, the keeper of the 

 lions, kindly undertook to take care of him. He 

 was suffered to go at large, and had every accom- 

 modation, but soon began to fall off in his appetite. 

 In vain did his kind host try every delicacy to 

 tempt his guest. With the exception of a few 

 raisins the dejected animal would eat nothing, and 

 fell away visibly. Fearing the worst, and sus- 

 pecting that it was pining for its home, Mr. Cops 

 brought it back to the housekeeper. The poor 



beaver immediately recognized her, uttered his 

 little cry, and crept under her chair. But the 

 blow had been struck ; he never rallied, but died, 

 as the good old housekeeper declared, with tears 

 in her eyes, of a broken heart. His skin is pre- 

 served in the museum of the Bristol Philosophical 

 Society. Poor Binny ! He was a most faithful 

 and entertaining creature, and some highly comic 

 scenes occurred between the worthy but slow 

 beaver, and a light and airy macauco that was 

 kept in the same apartment. 



The macauco was a white-fronted lemur,* and 

 was presented to the writer by the late Captain 

 Marryat, R. N. From the excessive agility of 

 this sprightly creature his master named him 

 " Monsieur Mazurier," to which name, and also 

 to that of " Macky," he would answer by a satis- 

 factory grunting noise. His bounds were won- 

 derful. From a table he would spring twenty or 

 thirty feet to the upper angle of an open door, and 

 then back again to the table or his master's shoul- 

 der, light as a fairy. In his leaps, his tail seemed 

 to act as a kind of balancing pole, and the elastic 

 cushions at the end of his fingers enabled him to 

 pitch so lightly that his descent was hardly felt 

 when he bounded on you. He would come round 

 the back of his master's neck, and rub his tiny 

 head fondly against his master's face or ear, and, 

 after a succession of fondlings and little gruntings, 

 descend to his master's instep, as he sat cross- 

 legged before the fire, when he would settle him- 

 self down thereon, wrap his tail around him like 

 a boa, and go to sleep. When in his cage he 

 generally slept on his perch, rolled up, with his 

 head downwards and his tail comfortably wrapped 

 over all. If a piece of orange was given to him 

 he would lift the fruit to his mouth and throw 

 back his head, so as to secure the juice, not a drop 

 of which was lost. He was very ibnd of sparkling 

 champagne, and after such a treat, his friskings 

 and playful tricks were beyond description funny. 

 His game of romps with Binny was most ludicrous. 

 Often, while Monsieur Mazurier was seated on his 

 master's instep, the bell was rung for Binny, who 

 entered as rapidly as his shuffling gait would per- 

 mit him, immediately came close to his master's 

 leg, uttered his little cry, and caressed the leg, 

 after his fashion, by rubbing the side of his head 

 and his nose against it. Presently he would, per- 

 ceive Macky, whom he would awake, and endeavor 

 to seduce him to play by prancing and shuffling 

 before him. Macky, nothing loath, would make a 

 spring on Binny's tail and bound off in an instant. 

 Upon which Binny would shuffle and prance, 

 shake his head, and play wonderful antics. People 

 may talk of the gambols of a rhinoceros, but the 

 gambols of the rodent threw those of the pachy- 

 derm into the shade, beating them hollow in un- 

 couthness and absurdity. Macky would bound on 

 Binny's back, dance a kind of saraband upon him, 

 and then leap before him, upon which Binny 

 would charge the dancer with the most determined 

 heavy alacrity. Macky was over his head and 

 * Lemur aJbifrons. 



