The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1897-02-13

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81 Fshe beaver is.:the most interes
81 all thesrodEntia, and possesses so
ii =, a1cb Il Intelligence and is so remark
able inits habits: that it has ever been;
tie subiecg Of Intense interest to nat.
:uulrlalists. 80 -. ),
The teeth Of the beaver are ez-i;
strong and sharp, and in cut:
ting wood the chips it leaves are pre-
c;sely-such as are made By carpenter:
when: he uses "a ehisel. The ilnbro-
Gated tail. .aerfes as a tyowel; tho fore
paws 1a Have 81 thes skill and power of a
hand, and With these appliances, so
compared with the facilities
possessed by man, this wonderful ami
:3m4 performs extraordinary tasks OF
;IaboIs*builds>houses larger and better
ssshan2the Laplaader's Int, aud ereoss
.damsS4hroush streams Of running
water 1poa the@most scientific princl-
splss.of the engineering arS
The houses: are composed Of
:noiiYeG mass az wood. stores and mnd,
the whole Ingeniously wrought to-
:getherso s ta form solid mass CT
great strength and frnness. After
tie structure, which is sometimes
twensyfeetin diameter, is finished it
iscoyered over annually with plaster,
which Ss:pas on smoothly as if done.
BY masoastroHel; but as the Dea-
yer aIwsYss works in the night, how
this fdae finish is: accomplished has
never tbeea:p dearly ascertained: The.
ssenfraaces Iodges:is under The.
,SMister, so$loW that when
sSSags Sass water 81 freezes doorway Wili be
:beIoWgsheica. Pie 8gssss placed
nsgaHeries running around the SIDES.
of the. building, the eantsr Being un.:
occupied. Most general anber:
Of families occupy The same
The object Of the dam isstef efrasset l taas
wafer VI SO that:the ice. efWinter ran sls fss:
Efallnsa aaz.1E6Iii aossdepsi
OF a plentiful supply: -fnstr r0E#
differs according to the demand OF
circumstances. II the current runs
strongly the dam is made to curVe
againstsit, 50 that the fall occasioned
by it resembles the horseshoe OF Nj
agara; but when the current is light
the dam is placed in straight line
across the stream. At the first con-
struction a dam is sometimes 800
feet in length, and from eight
to ten feet high, with O base OF
twelve feet, the whole work gracefully
narrowing toward the top, When it
happens that colony has uninterrupt-
edly continued its labors for many
years-au6 each member under ell
circumstances works on the dam every
day-the structure becomes ofgigantic
size, seeds OF the birch and other trees
all upon it, branches Of the willow
catch on its sides, and in time pleas
ant groves spring up filed with sing
ing birds, aud the whole assumes the
appearance OF q natural bank rather
than the original work OF animal iG-
dustry.
The beaver is proverbisl for being
O hard worker, nevertheless there are
some drones-alEays males by the
way-which refuse to labor, and are
therefore driven from the settlement.
These idlers scrape hole in neigh
boring bank and associate together,
picking up living as best they can.
They seem to be particularly unpcpu-
lar among the females, and are by
them snubbed and ridic;1led with i'm
punitg.
The beaver in captivity soon be-
comes tame, and is very amusing
animal, but hard to keep confined, for
by his powerful teeth no ordinary
woodwork of our habitations stops
his progress from one place to az
other. Although beaver IS thus
powerful with his teeth, telling some
times trees Of immense size by cutting
them asund@r near the butt, yet in
eating 8 potato they will skin it with
a precision that could not possibly be
obtained by the human hand or by
the blade of the most delicate knife. -
Detroit Free Press.
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