er has been long reputed as the most
sagacious of quadrupeds. True it is, that the capacity of cutting down
trees--often a foot or more in diameter--floating or rafting these trees
down a stream, and constructing a dam with them, and afterwards building
its singular houses or lodges in the water, would seem to indicate the
presence of a rational power. But there are many other creatures--
birds, insects, and quadrupeds--that exhibit instincts quite as
surprising.

Nevertheless the habits of the beaver are curious in the extreme, and
deserve to be given in detail. The best account of them is that of the
old and truthful traveller Hearne: upon whose homely but accurate
observations scores of fireside naturalists have established a measure
of their fame. We shall leave _him_ to tell the story of these singular
animals.

"The beavers," he says, "being so plentiful, the attention of my
companions was chiefly engaged on them, as they not only furnished
delicious food, but their skins proved a valuable acquisition,--being a
principal article of trade, as well as a serviceable one for clothing.
The situation of the beaver-houses are various. Where the beavers are
numerous, they are found to inhabit lakes, ponds, and rivers, as well as
those narrow creeks which connect the numerous lakes with which this
country abounds; but the two latter are generally chosen by them when
the depth of water and other circumstances are suitable, as they have
then the advantage of a current to convey wood and other necessaries to
their habitations; and because, in general, they are more difficult to
be taken than those that build in standing water. They always choose
those parts that have such a depth of water as will resist the frost in
winter, and prevent it from freezing to the bottom. The beavers that
build their houses in small rivers or creeks, in which water is liable
to be drained off when the back supplies are dried up by the frost, are
wonderfully taught by instinct to provide against that evil by making a
dam quite across the river, at a convenient distance from their houses.
The beaver-dams differ in shape, according to the nature of the place in
which they are built. If the water in the river or creek have but
little motion, the dam is almost straight; but when the current is more
rapid, it is always made with a considerable curve, convex towards the
stream. The materials made use of are drift-wood, green willows, birch,
an