448 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



pounds as a maximum, W. R. Hine tells me that he weighed 

 a 68-pound Beaver that came from Port Arthur. 

 COLOUR The general colour is a deep, dark chestnut, darker on 



the ears, paler and grayer below; the cheeks pale brown, in 

 contrast with the crown; the region above and at each side of 

 the tail, cinnamon rufous or bright chestnut. 



When alive the Beaver looks like a huge Muskrat, but 

 the broad, flattened tail is a distinctive mark at all ages. 



Both black and white freaks are found. The black pelts 

 are worth about double the common ones; the white have no 

 especial value. 



The Canadian Beaver differs chiefly from that of Europe 

 in being much larger and in having shorter nasal bones; these 

 in the European measure considerably more than one-third the 

 distance between the incisors and the occipital crest, and in 

 the Canadian about one-third. 



The following races oi canadensis are recognized : 



canadensis Kuhl, the typical form, and smal- 

 lest {a). 



carolinensis Rhoads, larger than the type, with 

 broader tail (b). 



frondator Mearns, larger and paler than the 

 type, with scaly part of tail shorter than 

 twice the width {c). 



pacificus Rhoads, largest and darkest of all. 

 Fig. 127-These wlth scaly part of tail longer than twice the 



diagrams (ex- 



cept «) are Width (d). 



from the de- ^ ' 



do"''il/"a^ee texcusis Bailey, very large and pale, with scaly 



u^ specimens' part of tall longer than twice the width {e) . 



Life-history. 



Map 25 (page 449) shows that the Beaver ranged over 

 all temperate America wherever there was wood and water. 

 The outline may stand as its present habitat, but there are 

 great blanks where it has been exterminated. The Mississippi 



