The BEAVER. This creature has been so often treated of, and his uncommon abilities so minutely described, that any further account of it will appear unnecessary; however for the benefit of those of my readers who are not so well acquainted with the form and properties of this sagacious and useful animal, I shall give a concise description of it. The beaver is an amphibious quadruped, which cannot live for any long time in the water, and it is said is even able to exist entirely without it, provided it has the convenience of sometimes bathing itself. The largest beavers are nearly four feet in length, and about fourteen or fifteen inches in breadth over the haunches; they weigh about sixty pounds. Its head is like that of the otter, but larger; its snout is pretty long, the eyes small, the ears short, round, hairy on the outside, and smooth within, and its teeth very long; the under teeth stand out of their mouths about the breadth of three fingers, and the upper half a finger, all of which are broad, crooked, strong, and sharp; besides those teeth called the incisors, which grow double, are set very deep in their jaws, and bend like the edge of an axe, they have sixteen grinders, eight on each side, four above and four below, directly opposite to each other. With the former they are able to cut down trees of a considerable size, with the latter to break the hardest substances. Its legs are short, particularly the fore legs, which are only four or five inches long, and not unlike those of a badger; the toes of the fore feet are separate, the nails placed obliquely, and are hollow like quills; but the hind feet are quite different, and furnished with membranes between the toes. By this means it can walk, though but slowly, and is able to swim with as much ease as any other aquatic animal. The tail has somewhat in it that resembles a fish, and seems to have no manner of relation to the rest of the body, except the hind feet, all the other parts being similar to those of land animals. The tail is covered with a skin furnished with scales, that are joined together by a pellicle; these scales are about the thickness of parchment, nearly a line and a half in length, and generally of a hexagonical figure, having six corners; it is about eleven or twelve inches in length, and broader in the middle, where it is four inches over, than either at the root or the extremity. It is about two inches thick near the body, where it is almost round, and grows gradually thinner and flatter to the end. The colour of the beaver is different according to the different climates in which it is found. In the most northern parts they are generally quite black; in more temperate, brown; their colour becoming lighter and lighter as they approach towards the south. The fur is of two sorts all over the body, except at the feet, where it is very short; that which is the longest is generally in length about an inch, but on the back it sometimes extends to two inches, gradually diminishing towards the head and tail. This part of the fur is harsh, coarse, and shining, and of little use; the other part consists of a very thick and fine down, so soft that it feels almost like silk, about three quarters of an inch in length, and is what is commonly manufactured. Castor, which is useful in medicine, is produced from the body of this creature; it was formerly believed to be its testicles, but later discoveries have shown that it is contained in four bags situated in the lower belly. Two of which, that are called the superior from their being more elevated than the others, are filled with a soft resinous adhesive matter, mixed with small fibres, greyish without, and yellow within, of a strong, disagreeable, and penetrating scent, and very inflammable. This is the true castoreum; it hardens in the air, and becomes brown, brittle, and friable. The inferior bags contain an unctuous liquor like honey; the colour of which is a pale yellow, and its odour somewhat different from the other, being rather weaker and more disagreeable; it however thickens as it grows older, and at length becomes about the consistence of tallow. This has also its particular use in medicine, but it is not so valuable as the true castoreum.
The ingenuity of these creatures in building their cabbins, and in providing for their subsistence, is truly wonderful. When they are about to chuse themselves a habitation, they assemble in companies sometimes of two or three hundred, and after mature deliberation fix on a place where plenty of provisions, and all necessaries are to be found. Their houses are always situated in the water, and when they can find neither lake nor pond adjacent, they endeavour to supply the defect by stopping the current of some brook or small river, by means of a causeway or dam. For this purpose they set about felling of trees, and they take care to chuse out those that grow above the place where they intend to build, that they might swim down with the current. Having fixed on those that are proper, three or four beavers placing themselves round a large one, find means with their strong teeth to bring it down. They also prudently contrive that it shall fall towards the water, that they may have the less way to carry it. After they have by a continuance of the same labour and industry, cut it into proper lengths, they roll these into the water, and navigate them towards the place where they are to be employed. Without entering more minutely into the measures they pursue in the construction of their dams, I shall only remark, that having prepared a kind of mortar with their feet, and laid it on with their tails, which they had before made use of to transport it to the place where it is requisite, they construct them with as much solidity and regularity as the most experienced workmen could do. The formation of their cabins is no less amazing. These are either built on piles in the middle of the small lakes they have thus formed, on the bank of a river, or at the extremity of some point of land that advances into a lake. The figure of them is round or oval, and they are fashioned with an ingenuity equal to their dams. Two thirds of the edifice stands above the water, and this part is sufficiently capacious to contain eight or ten inhabitants. Each beaver has his place, assigned him, the floor of which he curiously strews with leaves, or small branches of the pine tree, so as to render it clean and comfortable; and their cabbins are all situated so contiguous to each other, as to allow of an easy communication. The winter never surprizes these animals before their business is completed; for by the latter end of September their houses are finished, and their stock of provisions are generally laid in. These consist of small pieces of wood whose texture is soft, such as the poplar, the aspin, or willow, &c. which they lay up in piles, and dispose of in such manner as to preserve their moisture. Was I to enumerate every instance of sagacity that is to be discovered in these animals, they would fill a volume, and prove not only entertaining but instructive.
The OTTER. This creature also is amphibious, and greatly resembles a beaver, but is very different from it in many respects. Its body is nearly as long as a beaver’s, but considerably less in all its parts. The muzzle, eyes, and the form of the head are nearly the same, but the teeth are very unlike, for the otter wants the large incisors or nippers that a beaver has; instead of these, all his teeth, without any distinction, are shaped like those of a dog or wolf. The hair also of the former is not half so long as that belonging to the latter, nor is the colour of it exactly the same, for the hair of an otter under the neck, stomach, and belly, is more greyish than that of a beaver, and in many other respects it likewise varies. This animal, which is met with in most parts of the world, but in much greater numbers in North America, is very mischievous, and when he is closely pursued, will not only attack dogs but men. It generally feeds upon fish, especially in the summer, but in the winter is contented with the bark of trees, or the produce of the fields. Its flesh both tastes and smells of fish, and is not wholsome food, though it is sometimes eaten through necessity.
The MINK is of the otter kind, and subsists in the same manner. In shape and size it resembles a pole-cat, being equally long and slender. Its skin is blacker than that of an otter, or almost any other creature; “as black as a mink,” being a proverbial expression in America; it is not however so valuable, though this greatly depends on the season in which it is taken. Its tail is round like that of a snake, but growing flattish towards the end, and is entirely without hair. An agreeable musky scent exhales from its body; and it is met with near the sources of rivers on whose banks it chiefly lives.
OF THE BIRDS.
The Eagle, the Hawk, the Night Hawk, the Fish Hawk, the Whipperwill, the Raven, the Crow, the Owl, Parrots, the Pelican, the Crane, the Stork, the Cormorant, the Heron, the Swan, the Goose, Ducks, Teal, the Loon, the Water-Hen, the Turkey, the Heath Cock, the Partridge, the Quail, Pigeons, the Snipe, Larks, the Woodpecker, the Cuckoo, the Blue Jay, the Swallow, the Wakon Bird, the Black Bird, the Red Bird, the Thrush, the Whetsaw, the Nightingale, the King Bird, the Robin, the Wren, and the Humming Bird.
The EAGLE. There are only two sorts of eagles in these parts, the bald and the grey, which are much the same in size, and similar to the shape of those of other countries.
The NIGHT HAWK. This Bird is of the hawk species, its bill being crooked, its wings formed for swiftness, and its shape nearly like that of the common hawk; but in size it is considerably less, and in colour rather darker. It is scarcely ever seen but in the evening, when, at the approach of twilight, it flies about, and darts itself in wanton gambols at the head of the belated traveller. Before a thunder-shower these birds are seen at an amazing height in the air assembled together in great numbers, as swallows are observed to do on the same occasion.
The WHIPPERWILL, or, as it is termed by the Indians, the Muckawiss. This extraordinary bird is somewhat like the last-mentioned in its shape and colour, only it has some whitish stripes across the wings, and like that is seldom ever seen till after sun-set. It also is never met with but during the spring and summer months. As soon as the Indians are informed by its notes of its return, they conclude that the frost is entirely gone, in which they are seldom deceived; and on receiving this assurance of milder weather, begin to sow their corn. It acquires its name by the noise it makes, which to the people of the colonies sounds like the name they give it, Whipper-will; to an Indian ear Muck-a-wiss. The words, it is true, are not alike, but in this manner they strike the imagination of each; and the circumstance is a proof that the same sounds, if they are not rendered certain by being reduced to the rules of orthography, might convey different ideas to different people. As soon as night comes on, these birds will place themselves on the fences, stumps, or stones that lie near some house, and repeat their melancholy notes without any variation till midnight. The Indians, and some of the inhabitants of the back settlements, think if this bird perches upon any house, that it betokens some mishap to the inhabitants of it.
The FISH HAWK greatly resembles the latter in its shape, and receives his name from his food, which is generally fish; it skims over the lakes and rivers, and sometimes seems to lie expanded on the water, as he hovers so close to it, and having by some attractive power drawn the fish within its reach, darts suddenly upon them. The charm it makes use of is supposed to be an oil contained in a small bag in the body, and which nature has by some means or other supplied him with the power of using for this purpose; it is however very certain that any bait touched with a drop of the oil collected from this bird is an irresistible lure for all sorts of fish, and insures the angler great success.