LECTURE IV. 97 



flattened oval form, and covered with large scales. 

 The general length of the Beaver is about three 

 feet, and its colour a fine, deep, chesnut-brown. 

 The use of its fur is too well known to require 

 particular mention, but it is to be observed that 

 it is the under or inner fur, beneath the longer 

 hair, that is used in the composition of so many 

 articles of commerce, and varies according to the 

 season of the year, the health of the animal, and 

 manv other circumstances. 



The favourite resorts of the Beaver are retired 

 watry and woody situations. In such places the 

 animals assemble, and sometimes to the number 

 of several hundreds, living in a kind of families, 

 and building a sort of arched mansions, curiously 

 lined or plaistered with clay. Of these a long and 

 agreeable description may be found in the writings 

 of Buffon. In such retreats the Beavers, which 

 are always natives of cold climates, and parti- 

 cularly of the northern parts of America, pass 

 the rigour of the winter months^ feeding at in- 

 tervals on the twigs and branches of the softer 

 kind of trees, as willows, and poplars, great quan- 

 tities of which they cut into proper lengths, and 

 lay up in their cells. Sometimes, however, the 



LECT. ITI. H 



