of poplar
logs, pieces of willows, alder, and fragments of other trees, is
collected in autumn, and sunk in the water near the habitation. The
beaver exhibits an extraordinary degree of instinct, and may be easily
tamed; when caught or surprised by the approach of an enemy, it gives
warning to its companions by striking the water with the flat of its
tail. The musk rat and otter resemble the beaver in some of their
habits, but are inferior in ingenuity, and of less value to the hunter.

The walrus has now disappeared from the frequented waters of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence, but is still found on the northern coasts of Labrador; in
shape he somewhat resembles the seal, but is of much greater size,
sometimes weighing 4000 pounds; when protecting their young, or when
wounded, they are dangerous from their immense tusks; when out of the
water, however, they are very helpless.

Nearly all these wild animals are pursued by the Indians, and the
hunters of the Hudson's Bay Company,[196] for their skins; they are
consequently growing rarer, and their haunts become more remote each
succeeding year: probably, at no distant time, they will be altogether
extinct.

The birds of Canada differ little from those of the same names in
Europe, but the severe climate is generally uncongenial to them. There
are eagles, vultures, hawks, falcons, kites, owls, ravens, crows, rooks,
jays, magpies, daws, cuckoos, woodpeckers, hoopers, creepers,
humming-birds, thrushes, blackbirds, linnets, finches, sparrows,
fly-catchers, pigeons, turkeys, ducks, geese, swans, grouse, ptarmigans,
snipes, quails, and many others. The plumage of the American birds is
very brilliant; but the sweet voices that fill the European woods with
melody are never heard. Many of the birds of Lower Canada are migratory;
the water-fowl seek the cooler north during the heat of summer, and
other species fly to the south to shun the wintery frosts. In the milder
latitudes of Upper Canada, birds are more numerous. They are known by
the same names as those of corresponding species in England, but differ
from them to some extent in plumage and character.

In Lower Canada the reptiles are few and innocuous, and even these are
not met with in the cultivated parts of the country. In the Upper
Province, however, they are more numerous; some species are very
dangerous, others harmless and exquisitely beautiful. Two kinds of
rattlesnakes[197] are found here: one of a deep brown and yell