The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-08-04
WHOLE NO. e9es.
From The PHILADELPHIA Inaui;rsr.

| COUNT Vi lhe beaver, an animal that is ranked
oy naturailsts on scale OF intellect scarcely in
terior to the human race
1t has been described as raising worka. and
constructing habitations, which appear alte-
I gether Impracticable by any animal whose MT
most length does not exceed three feet. whose
paws are seldom larger than dollar, and whose
tail, though broad and fiat, has naturally such
an inclination downwards, that it can scarcely
be brought on line with the back Yet, it has
( been asserted, that, with such small and un-
manageable instruments, these animals are ca
pable of driving stakes six feet long. and a.
thick as mans leg, three feet deep into the
1 ground; of waiting these stakes into kind of
basket work with twigs; of building huts con-
sistlng OF several apartments, and even several
noors, the latter being supported ON notches,
cut IN upright stakes, and pasterng the walls
and ceilings of these apartments with mud, so
as to form smooth, uniform surface"
| This animal is mot with in the greatest abun-
dance In this country, is about two feet long,
having a heavy and thick body Capt. Frank.
lin relates the following aneedote ofthe beaver
One day gentleman, long resident in the
! Hudson's Bay country, espied five young beav-
ess sporting in the water, leaping upon the
trunk OF a tree, pushing one another off, and
playing thousand interesting tricks. He an
preached softly, under cover of the bushes, and
prepared to fire on the unsuspecting creatures,
but nearer approach discovered to him such
| slmllitude betwixt their gestures and the infan-
tile caresses of his own children, that he threw
aside his gun and left them unmolested'
The winter quarters of the beavers are sit
uated on the bank of river or creek, or, where
these are not 10 be found, on the edge of a lake
or pond In selecting the exact spot where
they may form their houses, they appear to be
guided by two considerations, namely a suffi-
cient depth of water, to prevent its being COM
pletely frozen, and the existence of a current
by means of which they can readily convey
wood and bark to their habitations To pre-
vent the water from being drained off when the
frost has stopped the current towards its source,
the beavers construct dam across the stream !;
aud IN this work they certainly display wonder
ful sagacity, skill, and perseverance. The hous-
es are OF various sizes, in proportion to the num-
Der OF their inhabitants, which seldom exceeds
ten or twelve, though sometimes double that
number has been discovered in the same dwell
ling. Many Of these houses stand together
along the margin of the water, forming vii
lage of from ten to ;h'-ty tenements"
The following anecdote is related in Longs
Expedition to the Rocky Mountains
hree beavers were seen cutting down
large cotton wood tree; when they had made
considerable progress, one of them retired TO a
short distance and took his station in the wa.
ter, looking steadfastly at the top of the tree
As soon as he perceived the top of the tree be-
gin to move towards les fall, he gave notice of
the danger 30 his companions who were still az
Eork, gneginR ct the base BY ,slapoiRg, bis tail
diately ran from the tree out of harms way
in their natural state. beavers subsist. en-
hrely on vegetable food, and the bark of trees;
and as during summer these are to be obtained
IN great abundance, the beavers pass that sea-
son In wandering, dispersed about the mead
ows and thckets that border the lakes and riy-
ers that abound in our northern regions"
HoRRID INSECTS. Opposite the venda was
an open cepse, covered with brushwood Hero
l entered to collect insects, which abound in it;
but was called back and warned of danger. /
thought Of serPentS, and made precipitate re-
treat; but found the danger was from a small
er, though nearly as serious cause. Among
the insects Of the country is kind of tick
called earapatoo. This is exceedingly venom
Gus; it has six hooked or sharp claws, with
which it readily clings to any passing object,
and it is furnished with proboscis of a singu-
lar structure. 1t consists off pencil of bristles,
serrated inwards, forming terebro or piercer,
with which it instantly peEetrates the flesh of
any animal, TO which it has adhered by its claws
and burrows its head in the wound. When en-
tering, the bristes expand, forming triangle,
of which the base was inside, SO that it opposes
resistance to extraction, which it is some
times quite impossible to overcome If II is
suffered to remain, it gorges itself with blood,
till 1t becomes bloated to an enormous size; if
it be extracted forcibly, so as to separate tho
head 1t remains fostering in the wound, and as
it is exceedingly irritating and acrid in its quail
ty, it causes violent inflammation, and degenerates
into foul and dangerous ulcer. The late king
suffered severely from carapatoo. These hor-
rid insects, which are the plague of the coun-
try, are sometimes so abundant, that herds of
cattle perish by their attacks. They are so
tough that they cannot be bruised, so Vivacious
that they cannot be drowned, and so adhesive
that they cannot be separated; so that it was
vain to place the cattle in water, or use any
other expedient. When came out of the wood
one was found on my neck, in the act of per-
forating the flesh with its proboscis, but it had
not time, so it was easily extracted. 1t was
about the size of large bug, with a gray mot
tied skin, which was so coriaceous and leathery,
that no bruising would kill it, and it escaped
WaLshs TrGUeLS in BTazal.
DUELs OF BEES In those fine spring days
in which the sun is beautiful and warm, duels
may often be seen to have taken place between
two inhabitants of the same hive. In some
cases the quarrel appears to have begun within,
and the combatants may be seen coming out Of
the gates eager :" for blows" Sometimes bee
peaceably on the outside of the hive, or walking
about, is rudsiy jostled by another, and then