THE BEAVER. 



The wonderful animal of which I have just been 

 displaying the disposition and habits, is remarkable 

 for th size and strength of its cutting teeth, which 

 enable it to gnaw down trees of great magnitude, 

 with incredible facility and dispatch. It does not 

 bear in its aspect any striking impression of superior 

 sagacity; its ears are short and its nose blunt j its fore 

 feet are small, but its hind feet large and strong, with 

 membranes connecting the toes. Its length from 

 nose to tail is generally about three feet: the tail is 

 about eleven inches long .and three broad, being 

 nearly of an oval form, flat, and covered with scales. 

 This tail, so different from that of other quadruped?, 

 serves not only as a rudder to direct its motions in the 

 water, but as a most useful instrument for laying oil 

 the clay in constructing and plastering its habitations. 

 The senses of the beaver are extremely acute, its 

 smelling in particular is so delicate that it will not 

 suffer any filth, or any thing of a disagreeable scent, 

 to remain in or near its apartments. 



There are at present in the Menagerie at Exeter 

 'Change, two male beavers, which are very tame, and 

 will even suffer strangers to handle them. They fre- 

 quently sit upright, to eat or look about them, and 

 often play with each other in a gay and frolicsome 

 manner. If any thing moveable be put into their 

 small apartment, they appear highly pleased, and 

 drag it about, but have never been known to carry 

 any thing about on their tails. They subsist princi- 

 pally on the bark of trees and bread ; but such is 

 their propensity to gnaw timber, that they would 

 soon eat their way out, if allowed the full range 

 of a room. 



I have, my dear Sir, been somewhat particular in 

 giving you a description of this extraordinary animal 

 and its astonishing works, stupendous fabrics indeed 

 they may be called when we reflect on the simplicity 

 of the means employed, and consider that their teeth, 

 their feet, and their tails, are all the instruments which 

 they use for the accomplishment of such great under- 

 takings. The beaver, indeed, is a subject on which all 

 M* 



