BEAVER. 
labor: feme fall by gnawing with their teeth trees of 
great fize, to form beams or piles; others roll the pieces 
along to the water; others dive, and with their feet 
ferape holes, in order to place them in * while others 
exert their efforts to rear them in their proper places : 
another party is employed in collecting twigs, to 
wattle the piles with •, a third, in collecting earth, 
{tones and clay •, a fourth is bufied in beating and 
tempering the mortar •, others, in carrying it on their 
broad tails to proper places, and with the fame in- 
lirument ram it between the piles, or plaifter the 
infide of their houfes. A certain number of fmart 
ftrokes with their tail is a fignal given by the over- 
feer, for repairing to inch or fuch places, either for 
mending any defeCls, or at the approach of an ene¬ 
my ; and the whole fociety attend to it with the ut- 
moil affiduity. Their time of building is early in 
the dimmer *, for in winter they never ftir but to 
their magazines of provifions, and during that fea- 
fon are very fat. They breed once a year,-and 
bring fordi, the latter end of the winter, two or 
three young at a birth. 
Befides thefe aiTociated beavers, is another fort, 
which are called 'Terriers *, which either want in- 
duftry or fagacity to form houfes like the others. 
They burrow in the banks of rivers, making their 
holes beneath the freezing depth of the v/ater, and 
work up for a great number of feet. Thefe aifo 
form their winter {lock of provifion. 
Beavers vary in their colors : the fined are black •, 
but the general color is a chefnut brown more oi¬ 
lers dark: feme have been found, but very rarely, 
S white. 
