Beaver 471 



things by study of the castor left in the Httle pile of mud; thus 

 it serves as a means of spreading intelligence; in particular 

 about sexual matters, hence its power. 



The old Beaver already mentioned as being on Big Dam 

 Lake, east of Klppewa, left his castorized mud-pies on every 

 promontory for miles, and thus proclaimed to all who under- 

 stood what a very solitary miserable life was his, and how 

 earnestly he did strive and pray to find a mate. 



We should expect such a sociable creature to show con- play 

 siderable advancement in development of play, and even here 

 it seems the " castor '* takes a prominent place. Morgan says :" 



"Occasionally they indulge themselves at play, for which 

 a formal preparation is made. After selecting a suitable place 

 upon dry ground near the pond or stream, they void their 

 castoreum here and there upon the grass, and, in the musky 

 atmosphere thus created, spend some hours at play or basking 

 in the sun. The trappers call these playgrounds *Musk 

 Bogs.' Two or three of them are often seen at play in the 

 water — diving, swimming around, and ducking each other." 



The Beaver is a strict monogamist. The mating season life 

 is February, and the pair make then and there a contract for beaver 

 life. Gestation lasts about three months ; toward the end of that 

 time the mother separates herself from her mate, that is, I 

 suppose, compels him to move out and keep away, while she 

 prepares for the brood in the old lodge by making a warm 

 nest of dry grass, so at least say the trappers, but it is not very 

 clear how the mother keeps the grass dry when she must swim 

 under water with it. Harry V. Radford believes that the 

 bedding is always of finely shredded wood. 



Here the young are born in the month of May; their eyes n-est 

 are open from the first. 



They number 2 to 5. According to Morgan,'^ one William young 

 Bass "found 8 young Beavers in a fcetal state in one female, 



^' Am. Beaver, p. 223. ^ Ibid., p. 221. 



