NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST.
BEAVER* arrived in this country in the winter of 1825, very young, being small and woolly, and without the covering of long hair that marks the adult animal. It was the sole survivor of five or six which were shipped at the same time, and it was in a very pitiable condition, lean, and with the coat all clogged with pitch and tar. Good treatment quickly restored it to health; it grew apace, plumped out, and the fur became clean and in good condition. Kindness soon made it familiar. When called by its name, 'Binny,' it generally answered with a little low plaintive cry, and came to its owner. The hearth-rug was its favourite haunt in a winter evening, and thereon it would lie stretched out at its length, sometimes on its back, sometimes on its side, and sometimes on its belly, expanding its webbed toes to secure the full action of a comfortable fire on them, but always near its master.
The building instinct showed itself early. Before it had been a week in its new quarters, as soon as it was let out of its cage, and materials were placed in its way, it immediately went to work. Its strength, even before it
* Part of this narrative appeared, by the permission of the author, in The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society Delineated, 1830. A highly interesting and instructive work.