NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 5 



and fell away visibly. Fearing the worst, and suspecting 

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

 back to the housekeeper. The poor beaver immediately 

 recognised her, uttered his little cry, and crept under her 

 chair. But the blow had been struck : he never rallied, 

 and 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 enter- 

 taining 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 me by the late Captain Marryat, R.N. 

 From the excessive agility of this sprightly creature, I 

 named him ' Monsieur Mazurier,' to which name, and 

 also to that of ' Macky," he would answer by a satisfac- 

 tory grunting noise. His bounds were wonderful. From 

 a table he would spring twenty feet and more, to the 

 upper angle of an open door, and then back again to the 

 table or his master's shoulder, 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 my neck and rub his tiny head fondly against 

 my face or ear, and, after a succession of fondlings and 

 little gruntings, descend to my instep, as I sat cross- 

 legged before the fire, when h^ would settle himself 

 do'wn thereon, v^nrap his tail round him like a lady's fur 

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

 slept on his perch, rolled ixj) vnih his head downwards, 

 and his tail comfortably ^Tapped over all. If a piece of 

 orange were given to him, he would lift the fruit to his 



* hcmur aJbifrons. 



