CORBESP ONBENCE. 



267 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



MORE ABOUT THE BEAVER. 



Messrs. Editors r 



I HAVE been highly entertained, and 

 gained some new ideas, by reading Dr. 

 Stockwell's article on " The Beaver and his 

 Works" in the "Monthly "for May, 1884. 

 I have myself long since made the acquaint- 

 ance of the beaver, but in different regions 

 from that studied by Dr. Stockwell. Per- 

 haps that is the reason why my observations 

 in some particulars differ from his. The 

 beaver has, or had, such a wide range, and 

 has been subjected to such different and 

 ever-changing environment, that it is not at 

 all extraordinary if his habits changed and 

 differed more or less in widely separated lo- 

 calities. The doctor remarks that modern 

 science has disproved the statements that 

 the beaver used his tail for a trowel and as 

 a vehicle for transporting loads. How has 

 •' modern science " disproved these state- 

 ments ? Has it not been, only, by the fail- 

 ure of some later naturalists to observe the 

 beaver's habits which were reported by older 

 observers ? Hence, they assumed that, what 

 they had not seen, no one else ever saw, and 

 on such negative evidence the genius of the 

 beaver has come to be underrated. I will 

 venture to suggest that no modern natural- 

 ist has seen quite all the beavers at work, 

 nor examined quite all the beaver -dams, 

 that existed during the last fifty years. 

 Great variation in habits of life in an ani- 

 mal as intellectual and full of resources as 

 the beaver might be expected during that 

 process of persecution to which it has been 

 subjected, and which has reduced its num- 

 bers more than a thousand-fold. 



In the summer of 1865, while resting 

 late on a cloudy, sultry afternoon near the 

 banks of a stream south of the Niobrara, in 

 Northeastern Nebraska, I had the gratifica- 

 cation of seeing a singular beaver-perform- 

 ance. I was sitting on a fallen tree, when I 

 heard a peculiar noise over a rise beyond 

 me. Creeping to the top of the slight ele- 

 vation, and peeping over, I saw a dozen 

 beavers rolling a small log or thick pole of 

 Cottonwood in the direction of a stream. A 

 few were pulling in front, but most of them 

 were pushing from behind. Finally they 

 rolled the log into a shallow depression, 

 whose farther side was much steeper than 

 the side from which they brought it. Their 

 united strength was insufficient to roll it out 

 of this depression, and it was most curious 

 to watch the various manoeuvres to accom- 

 plish this purpose. First they cut off about 

 eighteen inches of the thick end, and then 

 made another attempt, and again failed. 



Then they came together almost in a circle 

 as if for consultation. Suddenly they sepa- 

 rated, went back to the log, and rolled it 

 about sixteen inches back in the direction 

 from which they brought it. Five of the 

 beavers now went in front, stretched out 

 their tails toward the log, when those be- 

 hind rolled it on the tails of those in front. 

 The five beavers in front now pulled, those 

 behind pushed, and in a few minutes the log 

 was drawn out of the depression on to com- 

 paratively smooth ground. When this was 

 accomplished the imprisoned tails in front 

 were released, and the tails were handled and 

 examined as if they were hurt. Rolling was 

 then resumed. This satisfied me that the 

 stories which I had heard from trappers and 

 Indians about the beaver sometimes using 

 his tail to move burdens was correct. 



Again in September, 1870, while attempt- 

 ing to cross a tributary of the Logan River 

 in Wayne County, Nebraska, on the breast 

 of a beaver-dam, owing to a " circus " com- 

 menced by my mules, a small portion of the 

 left side of the dam was damaged. Camp- 

 ing near by at dusk, I hid myself among the 

 tall weeds, and waited for developments. 

 The beavers soon appeared, and commenced 

 the process of repair. They carried weeds 

 and mud, and closed up even the tracks left 

 by the mules, and smoothed down the sides 

 of the dam. In doing this, I could distinctly 

 see one, but only one, draw his tail back- 

 ward and forward over the freshly placed 

 earth and mud. 



It is a mistake to suppose that the bea- 

 ver only resides in or near wooded dis- 

 tricts. At the time of which I speak there 

 were still beaver at work on tributaries of 

 the Logan, where there was no timber grow- 

 ing of any kind within twenty miles. In 

 these places they built their dams of tall 

 sunflower - stems, and the stems of other 

 plants that grew luxuriantly on and near 

 the banks. They laid the stems in the wa- 

 ter, mainly lengthwise, up and down the 

 stream, bound them together with mud, and 

 made them amazingly strong. 



In regard to the manner in which the 

 beavers cut down trees there is some varia- 

 tion. A few years ago in Middle Park, Colo- 

 rado, I measured the stumps of forty-two 

 trees that were cut down at various times 

 by beavers. In all these cases, except one, 

 the gouging was done to near the center, 

 equally on all sides. In the one exception 

 the cutting was done beyond the center on 

 one side, and only one fifth as far on the 

 other. In Northeastern Nebraska, where, 

 during seven years, I measured stumps of 



