[Three Hundred Animals Contents]
IS a most industrious creature, and well known for his skill in building timber apartments for him and his family, on the banks of narrow rivers, where he watches the passing fish, which he brings out of the water, to devour it at pleasure. Their work consists in cutting a tree that bends over the stream, and by its fall to create a mole or dyke, in order to keep the water at the same height; it is said that in the performance of these buildings every one knows his proper business and station; and that they set overseers to beat and punish the idle, and teach or direct the inexperienced young ones. The Beaver is about the size of the badger; his head short, his ears round and small, his two fore teeth long, sharp and strong, well calculated for the business which Nature has destined him to. The tail of this creature answers the double purpose of a wheelbarrow, to carry the mortar and clay, and of a trowel, to beat and shape it. It is of an oval form, and covered with a scaly skin. The Beaver is common in Canada, and in Languedoc; and may be reckoned among amphibious animals.
