BEAVER. 95 



admitting this to happen regularly for four years, it fol- 

 lows, that a single pair might multiply in that period to 

 one million two hundred and seventy-four thousand eight 

 hundred and forty ! Such an instance of possible fecundity 

 is truly astonishing ; and were not their numbers thinned 

 by the ravages of almost every beast of prey, they would 

 nearly be sufficient alone to supply mankind with animal 

 food. Indeed, in some countries, they have multiplied to 

 such a degree, that the inhabitants consider them as a 

 nuisance. Though capable of enduring a severe climate, 

 they seem to delight in a temperate one ; so that in Swe- 

 den they are obliged to be sheltered in houses, and in 

 more northern regions they are wholly unknown. 



Tame rabbits, as if conscious of protection, never dig 

 holes for their retreats ; and they assume a variety of 

 colours. Wild rabbits, on the contrary, burrow in the 

 earth, and are uniformly brown. The flesh of the latter 

 Is most esteemed, as well as their fur. 



Like the hare, there are different species of rabbits, not 

 only in the Old Continent, but in the New That of 

 Brazil has scarcely any tail. 



THE BEAVER. 



This animal is far less remarkable for the singularity of 

 its conformation than for its astonishing instincts, which 

 some have exalted into a species of intellect. It has a flat 

 broad tail, covered with scales, which it uses as a rudder ; 

 and its toes are webbed, a property which enables it to 

 swim with greater facility than to walk. The length of 

 the beaver is about three feet, and of its tail eleven inches ; 

 it has strong cutting teeth, short ears, and a blunt nose. 

 It is found in the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and 

 America; but it is chiefly in the less-frequented regions 

 of the latter, that its habitudes and genuine instincts are 

 most strongly marked, and therefore form the properest 

 subject for observation. In every country where civilised 

 man prevails, many of the inferior animals are repressed 

 end degraded in their character ; but where he seldom 



