UHI 



LEA YES 



FROM THE 



NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



PART I. 



A BEAVER* arrived in this country in the win- 

 ter of 1825, very young, being small and woolly, 

 and without the covering of long hair that marks 

 the adult animal. It was the sole survivor of five 

 or six which were shipped at the same time, and 

 it was in a very pitiable condition, lean, and with 

 the coat all clogged with pitch and tar. Good 

 treatment quickly restored it to health ; it grew 

 a"pace, plumped out, and the fur became clean and 

 in good condition. Kindness soon made it famil- 

 iar. When called by its name " Binny," it gen- 

 erally answered with a little, low, plaintive cry, 

 and came to its owner. The hearth-rug was its 

 favorite haunt in a winter evening, and thereon it 

 would lie stretched out at its length, sometimes 

 on its back, sometimes on its side, and sometimes 

 on its belly, expanding its webbed toes to secure 

 the full action of a comfortable fire on them, but 

 always near its master. 



The building instinct showed itself early. Be- 

 fore it had been a week in its new quarters, as 

 soon as it was let out of its cage, and materials 

 were placed in its way, it immediately went to 

 work. Its strength, even before it was half- 

 grown, was great. It would drag along a large 

 sweeping-brush, or a warming-pan, grasping the 

 handle with its teeth, so that it came over its 

 shoulder, and advancing with the load in an oblique 

 . direction, till it arrived at the point where it wished 

 to place it. The long and large materials were 

 always taken first, and two of the longest were 

 generally laid crosswise, with one of the ends of 

 each touching the wall, and the other ends project- 

 ing out into the room. The area formed by the 

 crossed brushes and the wall he would fill up with 

 hand-brushes, rush-baskets, books, boots, sticks, 

 clothes, dried turf, or anything portable. As the 

 work grew high he supported himself on his tail, 

 which propped him up admirably ; and he would 



* Part of this narrative appeared, by the permission of 

 the author, in The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoo- 

 logical Society Delineated, 1840 ; a highly interesting and 

 instructive work. 



often, after laying on one of his building materials, 

 sit up over against it, appearing to consider his 

 work, or, as the country-people say, " judge it." 

 This pause was sometimes followed by changing 

 the position of the material "judged," and some- 

 times it was left in its place. After he had piled 

 up his materials in one part of the room, (for he 

 generally chose the same place,) he proceeded to 

 wall up the space between the feet of a chest of 

 drawers which stood at a little distance from it, 

 high enough on its legs to make the bottom a roof 

 for him ; using for this purpose dried turf and 

 sticks, which he laid very even, and filling up the 

 interstices with bits of coal, hay, cloth, or any- 

 thing he could pick up. This last place he seemed 

 to appropriate for his dwelling ; the former work 

 seemed to be intended for a dam. When he had 

 walled up the space between the feet of the chest 

 of drawers, he proceeded to carry in sticks, clothes, 

 hay, cotton-wool, &c., and to make a nest. When 

 he had done this to his satisfaction, he would sit 

 up under the drawers and comb himself with the 

 nails of his hind feet, ^n this operation, that 

 which appeared at first to be a malformation was 

 shown to be a beautiful adaptation to the necessi- 

 ties of the animal. The huge webbed hind-feet 

 of the beaver turn in so as to give the appearance 

 of deformity ; but if the toes were straight, instead 

 of being incurved, the animal could not use them 

 so readily for the purpose of keeping its fur in 

 order, and cleansing it from dirt and moisture. 



Binny generally carried small and light articles 

 between his right fore-leg and his chin, walking 

 on the other three legs ; and huge masses, which 

 he could not grasp readily with his teeth, he 

 pushed forwards, leaning against them with his 

 right fore-paw and his chin. He never carried 

 anything on his tail, which he liked to dip in 

 water, but he was not fond of plunging in the 

 whole of his body. If his tail was kept moist he 

 never cared to drink ; but if it was kept dry it 

 became hot, and the animal appeared distressed, 

 and would drink a great deal. It is not impossi- 

 ble that the tail may have the power of absorbing 

 water, like the skin of frogs, though it must be 



