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portions. Sometimes they traverse the woods, 

 and regale their young with a novel and more 

 elegant entertainment. 



Such as are used to hunt these animals know 

 perfectly well that green wood is much more 

 acceptable to them than that which is old and 

 dry; for which reason they plant a considerable 

 quantity of it round their lodgements ; and as 

 they come out to partake of it, they either catch 

 them in snares, or take them by surprise. In 

 the winter, when the frosts are very severe, they 

 sometimes break a large hole in the ice; and 

 when the beavers resort thither for the benefit 

 of a little fresh air, they either kill them with 

 their hatchets, or cover the opening with a large 

 substantial net. After this they undermine and 

 subvert the whole fabric; whereupon the 

 beavers, in hopes to make their escape in the 

 usual way, fly with the utmost precipitation to 

 the water, and plunging into the aperture, fall 

 directly into the net, and are inevitably taken. 



