BE A 



cure more than a single pair, on account of their being 

 so garrulous and noisy. 



Male Bearded Tit, or Reed Bird. 



We hardly remember having noticed any bird so 

 remarkably fond of society as this species. A fine 

 male, which we long kept in confinement, in a large 

 cage, together with a variety of other small birds, 

 generally passed his time on the higher perches, 

 where, if left alone by the others even for a moment, 

 he raised a most pitiful outcry, endeavouring by every 

 means in his power to call them up ; and then some- 

 times, when all his efforts were unavailing, and he 

 could brook solitude no longer, he would descend, 

 and strut among his companions, chuckling with 

 pleasure at being again in their society. He was 

 most unceasingly active, insomuch that it was often 

 difficult to obtain even a momentary view of his 

 lovely plumage ; and his movements were at all 

 times remarkably light and graceful, bearing a curious 

 resemblance to those of the monkeys in the large 

 cage in the Zoological Gardens ; a resemblance not 

 altogether fanciful, for it was remarked by several 

 persons. Like the monkeys, he often hung by one 

 leg from the top of the cage, and looked around 

 him : but perhaps some of these traits were chiefly 

 owing to the large size and convenient form of the 

 cage \vhich he inhabited ; for in describing the habits 

 of birds in confinement it is always necessary to have 

 an eye to such circumstances, their habits being often 

 affected by the peculiar size or form of the cage in 

 which they may chance to be confined, as we might 

 illustrate bv numerous examples. 



The bearded reed-bird is of a very timorous nature, 

 and is often a very long time before it becomes suffi- 

 ciently familiar to feed vhen a person is looking at 

 ir. Some pains were taken to tame the individual 

 above-mentioned, and he would take bread und milk 

 from the hand, but not without the greatest circum- 

 spection, and the most extreme readiness to retreat 

 at the least move of the person who offered it. He 



VEIL 34l 



was immoderately fond of this food, but it did not 

 agree with him, as he was always ill after eating it in 

 any quantity. His extreme timidity was also shown 

 when disturbed from his roost at night, being alarmed 

 at the slightest noise, and flying about with his long 

 pheasant-like tail expanded! wide, which made him 

 look even handsomer than usual. 



The legs and feet of this species are large and 

 strong, and would appear disproportionate, were it 

 not for the plumage being so exceedingly thick and 

 puffy ; the claws are long and pointed, very unlike 

 those of the different titmice, but resembling those of 

 the American rice-bird (JJofyc/imiir orizivora], and 

 other species which pass their time on the perpendi- 

 cular stems of reeds and rice plants. 



BEAVER (Castor Jibcr). A genus of mammalia 

 belonging to the order Rodnitia or gnawers. It con- 

 sists of only one species, and that species is peculiar 

 in its locality, being found only in the colder parts of 

 the temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere, 

 and there only in wild places, by the banks of pools, 

 lakes, and streams, which lie in the fastnesses of the 

 forests, or otherwise secluded in their character, and 

 distant from the abodes of civilised man. 



But though there is, in this genus, no varietv of 

 species, and not very much diversity of haunt to be 

 described, it is still an exceedingly interesting animal, 

 and one of which perhaps more marvellous stories 

 have been told and printed than of any other. It 

 would be foreign to our purpose to repeat those 

 stories even for the sake of refuting them ; and we 

 shall therefore take the shorter method of pointing 

 out what the animal is like, where it inhabits, what 

 it is capable of doing, how it is captured, and to what 

 uses it is applied, adding, as the occasion may suggest, 

 a few words on its general relations to the rest of 

 nature. 



The beaver is so decidedly a gnawing animal in 

 the structure of its teeth, that, it may without impro- 

 priety be considered as the most perfectly typical 

 one in the order to which it belongs. Its cutting 

 teeth are two in each jaw ; very large and strong ; 

 and standing so far clear of the lips, that the animal 

 can easily gnaw or cut a hard substance without the 

 least danger of injury to these. The structure of 

 these teeth, though common to most of the order, is 

 peculiar and well worthy of notice. On their front 

 sides these teeth are broad and flat, not white like 

 the teeth of most animals, but of a brownish yellow, 

 or a chestnut colour. They have along the front 

 surfaces, a plate of very hard enamel, winch covers 

 the bone or principal substance of the tooth, just as 

 a piece of steel may be seen covering the iron on the 

 cutting edge of a chisel, which is both sharp arid not 

 liable to be broken. The body of the tooth is com- 

 pact, but not very hard bone ; and it is strengthened 

 by a projecting ridge on the posterior surface, in the 

 same manner as hoes and various other tools are for- 

 tified, by a rids:e extending from the socket which 

 receives the handle. The tooth is thus formed upon 

 the most skilful mechanical principles, both in the 

 distribution of the materials and in the form. Bone, 

 though not so hard a substance as enamel, is tougher, 

 just as iron is tougher than hardened steel. The 

 softness makes it wear faster than the enamel, and 

 the toughness makes ihe tooth less easily broken. 

 If the whole tooth had been enamel, it Would have 

 in time got blunted, by the cutting edge wearing 

 down faster than the rest ; but the bone wears with 



