Natural Hidory and Huntincj of ihe Beaver. '' 57 



worse for it, though he gets shy, and, perhaps, tells the other beavers 

 to beware of traps. A beaver is generally caught by his fore 

 foot ; and should the trap be set too deep below water, his toe-nail 

 only gets caught. The traj) is set in the beaver-run, or just 

 where it springs into a hole in the bank. It must not be set in 

 too shallow water, for then he amputates his foot, or in too deep, 

 for in that case he does not get caught at all, but swims over the 

 trap. The proper depth to set a trap is 5 inches. The beaver is then 

 caught by his fore foot. Sometimes the teeth of a beaver are found 

 to have grown beyond their proper length. I once saw one with the 

 lower teeth 3^ inches beyond the gums. He Avas caught in a trap, 

 and was miserably thin ; but, singular enough, he had about the finest 

 fur I ever saw\ He was an aged animal. It is rare to see a beaver 

 which has been trapped with its teeth whole, as they are often broken 

 in trying to get out of the trap. A full-grown beaver weighs about 

 34 lbs. I am not an anatomist ; but still I do not think there is any- 

 thing very peculiar about its internal structure, except that the heart 

 weighs a mere nothing — the cavities being so very large. An old 

 beaver when shot sinks, a kitten floats. A good skin will weigh 2^ 

 lbs.; but it is very rarely that one weighing that amount is caught in 

 Vancouver Island. The Hudson's Bay Company give only from 75 

 to 85 cents per lb. at Victoria for peltries, so that a trapper now-a-days 

 can not get very fat at the work. There are at present very few 

 beavers on Vancouver Island or the main-land, compared with what 

 there must have been some years ago ; but they have been increasing 

 for the last six years ; and no doubt by the time beaver skins come 

 into fashion again there will be a plentiful supply. 



Supplementary Notes by Mr. Brown. 



The following I add as an appendix to the foregoing observations of 

 my friend, Mr. Green, whose opportunities for studying the animal 

 were much superior to my own during my travels in Northwest Amer- 

 ica, and whose account is valuable as being the plain unvarnished 

 notes of a hunter — a narration of facts very familiar to him, Avritten 

 with no reference to preconceived notions or received theories. First, 

 therefore, regarding the range of the beaver. It is found all over 

 British Columbia, Oregon, Washington Territory, and even south to 

 California, and north to the limit of trees. It is not, however, found, 

 as far as I can learn, in the Queen Charlotte Islands, but is abundant 

 in Vancouver Island, though, curiously enough (in such a manner is 

 history written). Colonel Colquhoun Grant, in his " Description of 

 Vancouver Island" (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. 



