168 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
its name ' Binny,' it generally answered with a little 
cry, and came to its owner. The hearth-rug was its 
favourite haunt, and thereon it would lie stretched out, 
sometimes on its back, sometimes on its side, and some- 
times flat on its belly, but always near its master. The 
building instinct showed itself immediately it was let 
out of its cage and materials were placed in its way ; 
and this before it had been a week in its new quarters. 
Its strength, even before it was half grown, was great. 
It would drag along a large sweeping-brush, or a warm- 
ing pan, grasping the handle with its teeth so that the 
load came over its shoulder, and advancing in an oblique 
direction till it arrived at the point where it wished to 
place it. The long and large materials were always 
taken first, and two of the longest were generally laid 
cross-wise, with one of the ends of each touching the 
wall, and the other ends projecting out into the room. 
The area formed by the crossed brushes and the wall, 
he would fill up with hand brushes, rush baskets, 
books, boots, sticks, cloths, dried turf, or any thing 
portable. As the work grew high, he supported him- 
self on his tail, which propped him up admirably, and 
he would often, after laying on one of his building 
materials, sit up over against it, appearing to consider 
his work, or, as the country people say, ^ judge it.' 
This pause was sometimes followed by changing the 
position of the material 'judged,' and sometimes it 
was left in its place. After he had piled up his mate- 
rials in one part of the room, (for he generally chose 
the same place), he proceeded to wall up the space 
between the feet of a chest of drawers which stood, at 
a little distance from it, high enough on its legs to 
make the bottom a roof for him ; using for this purpose 
dried turf and sticks, which he laid very even, and filling 
up the interstices with bits of coal, hay, cloth, or any 
thing he could pick up. This last place he seemed to 
