140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. ^ 



In the unincorporated Townships of this county, (Oxford,) you cannot 

 cross a meadow or follow up a valley without discoveriiit; the old signs of 

 beaver. Their dams on flat land, where there is no current, are always made 

 of grass and mud, but where there is a current, sticks and drift wood are 

 used. And where the current of the stream is quite strong, the dam is made 

 bowing, and presenting a convexity to the tide. Their houses are situated 

 immediately above the dam, and are constructed of sticks and branches of 

 ■willow and other wood, with mud and stones, all mixed together without any 

 particular method, except to leave a hole to live in. They are built very 

 strong and are generally two stories hight, and have a window, or hole facing 

 the water up stream, apparently to admit fresh air. They have holes through 

 the chamber floor to escape through, when alarmed. And at such times they 

 always slap the water powerfully with their tails, which arouses the whole 

 colony. 1 think this habit of slapping the water, is not for any particular 

 purpose, but merely a habit, notwithstanding others have said that they do 

 this while building, to put a finish to their work. They always lay with 

 their hind quarters under water, and on their helly, and some suppose this 

 gives their tail the fishy taste which it is known to have. 



When swimming, they keep almost an upright position, their heads and 

 shoulders being above water. They generally congregate m the month of 

 July, and choose their mates and live together until April or May. They 

 live from six to ten in a house, and their houses, if joined together by one 

 partition, never have a passage through. They sink their wood for winter 

 food, by means of stones and mud, and not by any mysterious way, as some 

 have supposed. They always choose a locality for colonizing where the water 

 is deep enough not to freeze clear through. In the spring, the males leave 

 their habitations first, and leave the females to take care of their young a few 

 weeks, when they all roam about during the summer months, regardless of 

 their home. They can be shot between sunset and dark, by lying in wait 

 for them, as they take that time to swim out for relaxation. They work 

 chiefly in the night. 



They seem to know how high the water will be the coming spring, and build 

 their houses accordingly ; whether this be reason or instinct, it never fails. 

 They only seem to enjtjy their full powers of reason or intellect, when they 

 are living in society, and families, for when they get strayed apart, from any 

 cause, and wander off alone, they seem to be as dumpish as a musk rat, or any 

 other animal. If a colony gets scattered, it is the opinion of the hunters 

 that they never collect to live together again. 



In our upper rivers there are now many small families of beaver. I saw 

 new work on the Diamond river last year, and a hunter informed me of 

 beaver, last fall, on the Cupsuptic river, and on the Beamus stream, seven 

 miles from the upper dam, there were a few, and I met a hunter lost in the 

 woods, trying to make his way to hunt them. 



I think beaver now choose very small streams in the deepest recesses of the 

 wilderness to build their dams and houses, since they have been so often dis- 

 turbed. They remind one of the native Indians. The white man is not 

 contented to let either live in peace on the possessions given them by our 

 common Father. 



The beaver seems to bo the last of the genus " Castor,'* and thoy are fast 

 dying out, and will soon become extinct. In the year 1745, there were im- 

 ported into London and llouchelle nearly one hundred and fifty thousand 

 skins. And in the year 1827, the importation had fallen away to about filty 

 thousand, although four times the ground was hunted over to got them. And 

 now there are very few beaver sent to Europe. 



This animal is truly a wonder in the great economy of creation, and pre- 

 sents to our minds the connecting link between instinct and reason, indeed 

 the knowledge of the beaver seems sometimes to bo far in advance of the 

 lower order of the human family. 



