along with his chin. When he had built his walls, he made himself a nest in the centre, and sat up in it, combing his hair with the nails of his hind feet. [Illustration: THE MUSK RAT, (_Fiber Zibethicus_,)] IS a native of Canada, and resembles the beaver in many of his habits. He has a fine musky scent, and makes his holes in marshes and by the waterside, with two or three ways to get in or go out, and several distinct apartments: he is said to contrive one entrance to his hole always below the water, that he may not be frozen out by the ice. This animal is called the Musquash in America, and its fur is used, like that of the beaver, in the manufacture of hats, four or five hundred thousand skins being said to be sent to Europe every year for that purpose. Musk Rats are always seen in pairs; and though watchful, are not timid, as they will often approach quite close to a boat or other vessel. In spring they feed on pieces of wood, which they peel carefully; and they are particularly fond of the roots of the sweet flag (_Acorus Calamus_). In Canada this animal is called the Ondatra. [Illustration: THE HARE. (_Lepus timidus._)] THIS small quadruped is well known at our tables as affording a favourite food, notwithstanding the dark colour of its flesh. Its swiftness cannot save it from the search of its enemies, among whom man is the most inveterate. Unarmed and fearful, the Hare appears almost to sleep with open eyes, so easily is it alarmed. Its hind legs are longer than its fore ones, to enable it to run up hills; its eyes are so prominently placed, that they can encompass at once the whole horizon of the plain where it has chosen its form, for so its seat or bed is called; and its ears so long, that the least noise cannot escape it. It seldom outlives its seventh year, and breeds plentifully. Naturally wild and timorous, the Hare may, however, be occasionally tamed. The following is from the entertaining account given by Cowper, of three Hares that he brought up tame in his house; the names he gave them were Puss, Tiney, and Bess. Tiney was a reserved and surly Hare; Bess, who was a Hare of great humour and drollery, died young. “Puss grew presently familiar, would leap into my lap, raise himself upon his hinder feet, and bite the hair from my temples. He would suffer me to take him up and carry him about in my arms, and has more than once fallen fast asleep upon my knee. He was ill three days, during which time I nursed him, kept him apart from his fellows that they might not molest him, (for, like many other wild animals, they persecute one of their own species that is sick,) and by constant care, and trying him with a variety of herbs, restored him to perfect health. No creature could be more grateful than my patient after his recovery, a sentiment which he most significantly expressed by licking my hand, first the back of it, then the palm, then every finger separately, then between all the