2l6 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



the little ehaps, whisking out into the friendly 

 water, are not to be caught by such a trick. 



" Then there were those gray, drifting shad- 

 ows that lurked near the pond when the little 

 chaps were busy in the spring repairing the dam 

 — those round-eyed, moon-faced Lynxes, gaunt 

 with famine after the scourge of winter, which 

 come stealing on soft-padded feet and bellies to 

 the snow, just within springing distance. Th.e 

 wary sentinel Beaver brings down his wide, flat 

 tail on the water with a loud smack — a signal to 

 every Beaver to vanish." 



In many parts of the \\'est there has been 

 bitter opposition to the conservation of the 

 Beaver because of the damage it does to fruit 

 trees. By making extensive ponds, also, the 

 Beaver sometimes kills a great quantity of very 

 valuable timber. In Ontario several years ago 

 this backing-up water by the Beaver and the 

 killing of valuable timber became such a serious 

 matter that the province authorized the destruc- 

 tion of several hundred of the animal,>. 



However, the Beaver is constantly proving 

 that his good deeds outweigh the bad. In the 

 arid plains irrigation jilays a very imiiortant ]>art. 



A constant supply of water is necessary for this. 

 The Beavers in the mountains, by building a 

 series of dams in the valleys, form ponds and 

 willow-covered marshes, which retain the extra 

 waters of the melting snows and spring rains, 

 and give it out gradually during the summer. 



Beavers should be allowed to exist simply for 

 the interest they add to the life of mankind, to 

 sav nothing of their economic value. Beaver 

 skin has brought more money than that of any 

 other animal, unless it be the Fur Seal. So com- 

 mon was its fur in early days, and such a stand- 

 ard value did it have, that in Canada for many 

 decades it was a medium of exchange among 

 the Indians, white trappers and traders. In the 

 latter part of the eighteenth century American 

 companies exported about 150,000 skins annu- 

 ally and the Hudson Bay Company 50,000 more.. 

 The fortune of the Astor family had as its basis 

 chiefly the trade in Beaver fur. This interesting 

 fact is tacitly implied in the image of the Beaver 

 which appears in the tile work of the Subway 

 station at Astor Place, New York. 



J. M. Johnson. 



WESTER,^, OR YELLOW-HAIRED PORCUPINE 



