A JANUARY DAY AT REGENT'S PARK. 5 



meanour partaking so largely of the absurd, and its 

 perfect contentment amid conditions that would seem 

 the very acme of discomfort to a human being. After 

 watching the inquisitive creature for some time, it was 

 easy to appreciate the veneration in which its intellec- 

 tual powers are, or were once, held by the noble savage 

 of North America, who would naturally reverence an 

 animal that could build a house far superior to his wig- 

 wam, and was clever enough to dam up a too shallow 

 stream, and to lay by a store of food for the winter 

 two branches of social economy which the savage mind 

 would not have conceived, far less have executed. 



Dripping with water which froze almost immediately 

 on touching the ground, and had already covered the 

 enclosure with spots and paths of ice, the beaver looked 

 as luxuriantly comfortable as a cat on a hearthrug, and 

 was enjoying himself amazingly. Sometimes he would 

 patter round his pond, his flat tail dragging behind him ; 

 then he would make for the water, flounce into the half- 

 frozen liquid with a splash that caused the nerves to 

 shudder in misplaced sympathy, make a great turmoil 

 with paws and tail, and then emerge, walk to the bars 

 with the water dropping from every hair, seat himself 

 on end, holding with his feet to the iron fence, and, with 

 a calmly inquisitive air, inspect the carriages passing 

 on the road, or the visitors who happened to approach 

 his home. 



Good store of tree trunks and branches have been 

 considerately furnished to him, and the grooves on the 



