320 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



beavers drag their branches and pieces of bark into the 

 water, and then take them into the dining-room by the 

 bidden entrance. Indeed, I believe the house is alJ dining- 

 room, but it is always very neatly swept. 



9. There are not often more than eight or ten beavers, 

 old and young, in a single house. Hearne, an old traveler, 

 once found thirty-seven under a single roof. But I sup- 

 pose that was a kind of " tenement-house " with several 

 families. Besides the houses, they like to have burrows in 

 the banks, and spend part of their time in each. The 

 young beavers live at home for about two years before they 

 go to housekeeping for themselves. They are queer little 



.things, and their cry is like that of a young child. Mr. 

 Morgan once saw a little beaver in an Indian's house, and 

 it was lapping milk out of a saucer, like a kitten, and an 

 Indian baby was pulling its fur. Then there was a little 

 cry, and Mr. Morgan thought it was the Indian baby, till 

 he found it was the baby beaver. 



10. It has alwaj's been an interesting question for natu- 

 ralists how the beaver learns to build. Does he learn it 

 by observing his parents, or would he know how to do it if 

 he were brought up alone ? Button, a great naturalist, 

 thought that it was all learned by observation. Ro Gnvier, 

 another great naturalist, took a very young beaver and 

 brought him up by hand, apart from all his kind. He 

 was fed with branches of willow. He ate the bark, then 

 cut the branches in pieces and piled them up in the corner 

 of the cage. Then they gave him earth, straw, and other 

 branches. They saw him form the earth into lumps with 

 his forefeet. Then he pushed these lumps together with 

 his mouth and chin, and piled them, witli the straw and 

 branches, into a solid mass. This shows that an instinct 

 taught the little beaver to build, even without any other 

 beaver to set the example. 



11. Now, there are several remarkable things about the 



