BEAVERS 



You know what it means to be called as ''indus- 

 trious as an ant" or as ''busy as a bee/' but did you 

 ever hear any one say this: "Oh, he works as hard 

 as a beaver!" 



Do you know what a beaver does? He is a builder 

 and a wood chopper! He cuts down trees and uses 

 them to build his house, also to construct dams 

 across the rocky streams. Wouldn't you like to 

 know what the beavers are like, and how they cut 

 the trees, and how they make their houses and 

 dams? 



First, then, there are always a father and a mother 

 beaver who leave the old pond and the old home and 

 start out to build a new home for themselves and 

 for their little ones. They sometimes travel long 

 distances before they find a brook flowing through 

 just such a place as would make them a good home. 



You never would think to look at them that these 

 beavers were so clever. They look like great over- 

 grown muskrats and, indeed, they are something 

 like muskrats, only they are much larger and much 

 more intelligent. They have small heads, and 

 bright little eyes, and large clumsy bodies covered 

 with thick fur. Their hind legs are long and strong 

 and end in webbed feet like those of a duck, for 

 they are great swimmers; but their front legs are 



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