Recto:

l.l.: R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.

l.c.: THE BEAVER. \ This is a very useful animal, as it furnishes a valuable kind of fur; and its habits and manners show so much industry and method, that it is well worthy of notice. Beavers \ take up their abode on the banks of rivers or ponds, and build their own dwellings with pieces of timber, which they have gnawed off the branches of trees, and with clay, \ which they have dived for, mixing with it such sticks and stones as they can find. This task they perfrom with their front paws and their mouth, working always by night , until \ a comfortable house is prepared. In summer they feed either on the bark of trees , or on the green herbage, and the berries which grow in the neighbourhood; but in \ winter their food is almost entirely confined to the bark, of which they lay in a large stock before the frost begins. Willow, popular, and birch, are their favourite kinds. \ Beavers are very affectionate animals, and seem to feel deeply the loss of a companion, They are taken in large number in North America, for the sake of their fur, vast \ quantities of which are procured from Canada, and other places, by the Hudson's Bay Company. \ Published Under The Direction Of The Committee Of General Literature and Education, Appointed By The Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge \ PRICE 3/4 d. PLAIN; 2 d. COLOURED.

Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas

Public domain