Lady Mary and her Nurse

ught with dyed moose-hair, and the pattern was very pretty; the border was of scarlet feathers on one side, and blue on the other, which formed a rich silken fringe at each edge. This wa

bird, both of which, Lady Mary said, she had seen. The Indians use thes

ore mantles and dresses of gay feathers. They were chiefs of t

about birds and flowers to-day?" asked Lady

about the beavers, my la

ng about those curious creatures; for mamma bought me a pretty picture, which I will show you, if you please," said the little

f black leather, stamped in a diaper pattern. Before it is dried, it is very heavy, weighing three or four pounds. I have heard my brothers and some of the Indian trappers say, that the animal makes use of its tail to beat the sides of the dams and smoothe the mu

beavers make da

walls are made broad at the bottom, and are several feet in thickness, to make them strong enough to keep the water from washing through them. The beavers assemble together in the fall, about the months of October and November, to b

se is the

erhaps more, sometimes less, and construct dwellings, which are raised against the inner walls of the dam. These little huts have two chambers, one in which they sleep, which is warm and soft and dry, lined with roots and sedges and dry grass, and any odds and en

nd muskrats feel cold while living in

supplied with a bag of oil, with which they dress their coats, and that throws off the moisture; for you know, Lady Mary, that oil and water will not mix. All creatures that live in the

ers in England, nur

and even in France. [Footnote: The remains of bearer dams in Wales prove that this interesting animal was once a native of Great Britain.] The beaver abounds mostly in North America, and in its cold po

ld have named the beavers also, as patterns of gentleness, cleanliness, and industry. They work together in bands, and live in families and never fight or disagree. They have no chief or leader; the

ut down trees; they have

ady Mary two long curved tusks, of a reddish-brown colour, which she told her were the tools used by the beavers to c

hat such small animals could c

the beavers build in. The settler owes to the industrious habits of this animal those large open tracts of land called beaver meadows, covered with long, thick, rank grass, which he cuts down and uses as hay. These beaver meadows have the appearance of dried-up lakes. The soil is black and spongy; for you may put a stick down to the depth of many feet; it is o

he bonny Highland hills among the heather? I wish papa would let me go to th

id it reminded him of his Highland home. I have found these pretty bells growing on

sleep in the win

a good deal; but as they lay up a great store of provisions

y though

rate in pairs, living in holes in the banks of lakes and rivers, and do not unite again

build their winter ho

ct, that guides these wild animals; doubtless

lped each other in these things, they retire to a private dwelling, each family by itself. The otter does not make a dam, like the beaver, and I am not sure that it works in companies, as the beaver; i

musk-rats?" asked Lad

ld a little house of rushes, and plaster it; they have two chambers, and do not lie torpid; they build in shallow, rushy places in lakes, but in spring they quit thei

ou ever see a

sat in her lap, or on her shoulder, and was very playful." Just then the dinner-bell rang, and as dinner at Go

a row-boat, the noise frightens the timid beavers, and they dive under water; but as we had a light birch-bark canoe, we saw them at evening and at day-break going to and fro from their work to the shore. They sleep, during the day, and chop and gnaw during the night. They cut the wood that they use, from slender wands up to poles four inches through, and from one to two fathoms long (a fathom is a measure of six feet). A large beaver will carry in his mouth a stick I should not like to carry on my shoulder, for two or three hundred yards to the water, and then float it off to where he wants to take it. The kinds of trees used by the beavers are willow and poplar-the round-leaved poplar they prefer. The Canada beavers, where the poplars are large, lumber (i.e. cut down) on a larger scale; they cut trees a foot through, but in that case only

s they dam up, and make a better stop-water than is done by the millers. The spot where they build their dams is the most labour-saving pla

in a season. The skin of the beaver is not worth as much as it used to be, but their fles