-
Articles/Ads
Article Untitled Article ← Page 4 of 8 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
judicious treatment was soon restored ( his health ) , kindness induced familiarity , and he lived to let his master into a few of those Masonic secrets which adult beavers rarely disclose to the observation of mankind . His name , —whence derived is not known , —was "Binny , " and when his master thus addressed him , it is recorded that he
answered by a little cry , and ran towards him . His master ' s hearthrug was his chosen haunt , and thereon he would stretch out his growing limbs , and bask beneath his owner ' s protection , provided with food and shelter , house and home . But his instinct was to build , and build he would : yet , even a beaver could not build without materials ; so they were provided , in the form of brushes , baskets , boots ,
sticks , a warming-pan , and other moveable chattels . These he arranged secundum artem , seizing the warming-pan handle at first with his teeth , and throwing it over his shoulder ; then advancing with it in an oblique direction to a chosen spot , he there deposited the awkward receptacle along with other long and large materials , crossing them over each other so as to form a solid frame-work projecting from the
wall , and in contact with it . The area thus formed , he ¦ then , filled up with the smaller materials at hand , brushes , rush baskets , books , boots , sticks , dusters , dried turf , & c . As the work grew in height Binny supported himself on his tail , which propped him up to admiration , and now , after laying on one material after another , he would sit up over against it , as if to consider what was to be done next . This
pause would sometimes be followed by changing the position of the materials , as though he felt that he could not trust his instinct with a warming-pan . Next a chest of drawers , standing on high legs , attracted his attention . He proceeded to wall up the spaces between the feet ( using the bottom of the chest as a roof to his house ) , laying
around the sides , m an even and orderly manner , bits of coal , hay , cloth , & c . The walls being finished , he proceeded to carry in sticks , cloths , hay , and cotton , and to make a nest ; and when he had done his work he would sit up and comb himself with the nails of his hind feet , cleansing his face from dirt and moisture , as a decent mechanic would make himself tidy and comfortable after a day ' s work .
Here was instinct blindly at work without object or design , and reason stepping in occasionally to check its needless toil . The case presents a curious example of the manner in which instinct is modified by domestication in the first generation ^ The animal instinct which suggests the selection of wholesome and proper food , is very curious and diversified . There is scarcely a
plant which is not rejected as food by some animals and ardently desired by others . The horse yields the common water-hemlock to the goat ; and the cow , the long-leafed water-hemlock to the sheep . The goat , again , leaves the aconite ( or wolf ' s-bane ) to the horse . The euphorbia is noxious to man , but is greedily devoured by certain inject tribes . The Indian buceros feeds on nux vomica , used in this country as a poison for rats . The leaves of the broad-leafed kalmia * The narrative , of which this is a condensed outline , appeared in " The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
judicious treatment was soon restored ( his health ) , kindness induced familiarity , and he lived to let his master into a few of those Masonic secrets which adult beavers rarely disclose to the observation of mankind . His name , —whence derived is not known , —was "Binny , " and when his master thus addressed him , it is recorded that he
answered by a little cry , and ran towards him . His master ' s hearthrug was his chosen haunt , and thereon he would stretch out his growing limbs , and bask beneath his owner ' s protection , provided with food and shelter , house and home . But his instinct was to build , and build he would : yet , even a beaver could not build without materials ; so they were provided , in the form of brushes , baskets , boots ,
sticks , a warming-pan , and other moveable chattels . These he arranged secundum artem , seizing the warming-pan handle at first with his teeth , and throwing it over his shoulder ; then advancing with it in an oblique direction to a chosen spot , he there deposited the awkward receptacle along with other long and large materials , crossing them over each other so as to form a solid frame-work projecting from the
wall , and in contact with it . The area thus formed , he ¦ then , filled up with the smaller materials at hand , brushes , rush baskets , books , boots , sticks , dusters , dried turf , & c . As the work grew in height Binny supported himself on his tail , which propped him up to admiration , and now , after laying on one material after another , he would sit up over against it , as if to consider what was to be done next . This
pause would sometimes be followed by changing the position of the materials , as though he felt that he could not trust his instinct with a warming-pan . Next a chest of drawers , standing on high legs , attracted his attention . He proceeded to wall up the spaces between the feet ( using the bottom of the chest as a roof to his house ) , laying
around the sides , m an even and orderly manner , bits of coal , hay , cloth , & c . The walls being finished , he proceeded to carry in sticks , cloths , hay , and cotton , and to make a nest ; and when he had done his work he would sit up and comb himself with the nails of his hind feet , cleansing his face from dirt and moisture , as a decent mechanic would make himself tidy and comfortable after a day ' s work .
Here was instinct blindly at work without object or design , and reason stepping in occasionally to check its needless toil . The case presents a curious example of the manner in which instinct is modified by domestication in the first generation ^ The animal instinct which suggests the selection of wholesome and proper food , is very curious and diversified . There is scarcely a
plant which is not rejected as food by some animals and ardently desired by others . The horse yields the common water-hemlock to the goat ; and the cow , the long-leafed water-hemlock to the sheep . The goat , again , leaves the aconite ( or wolf ' s-bane ) to the horse . The euphorbia is noxious to man , but is greedily devoured by certain inject tribes . The Indian buceros feeds on nux vomica , used in this country as a poison for rats . The leaves of the broad-leafed kalmia * The narrative , of which this is a condensed outline , appeared in " The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society . "