tations, or the bottom of the water, they are able
to indulge in this food only so far as they have
in the summer cut down green trees, and thrown
them into the water in front of their door. At
this season their chief support is the fleshy root of
a large species of water-lily. This root imparts a rank taste to their flesh, which is at other times in high estimation.
The Beavers which are found in the European rivers are for the most part solitary, and dwell in burrows in the banks. They have hence been supposed to be destitute of the building instinct, and therefore specifically distinct from those of America. But the recent discovery of a colony of building Beavers on a little tributary of the Elbe has dispelled this notion, for these were found to inhabit houses of eight or ten feet in height, and to have constructed a dam which raised the water more than a foot; while their work was in no way inferior to that of their western brethren.
An anecdote related by M. Geoff. St. Hilaire of a Beaver from the Rhone, which was kept in the Paris menagerie, also illustrates this instinct in an European individual. "Fresh branches were regularly put into his cage, together with his food, consisting of legumes, fruit, &c., to amuse him during the night, and minister to his gnawing propensity. He had only litter to shield him from the frost, and the door of his cage closed badly. One bitter winter night it snowed, and the snow had collected in one corner. These were all his materials, and the poor Beaver disposed of them to secure himself from the nipping air. The branches he interwove between the bars
