THE BEAVERS AT THE ZOO.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR." I
Sin,—In your review of the book on beavers, in the Spectator of January 28th, I think you are unfairly severe on the want of intelligence in the performances of the beavers at the Zoo. Perhaps your reviewer has never had to do his work in a building with a corrugated-iron roof. My work is done under that mean and ineffectual substitute for thatch, and summer suns and winter frosts make one feel the beavers' great wisdom in recognising the insufficiency of the covering provided for them.
Had I a suitable supply of mud, and had I a flat tail, to- gether with that so seldom-achieved though so often-desired "combination of industry and leisure," I too would strive after greater perfection in building, and my roof too would then be, like the savages, "neatly though inexpensively
clothed in. mud."—I am, Sir, &c., H. S.
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