CALIFORNIA MAMMALS. 



old Beaver dams and aspens cut by Beavers a few miles east of 

 Goose Lake, Modoc County, but all the Beavers had been caught 

 a few years previously. Dr. Cooper says that Beavers were for- 

 merly common in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers, and' I 

 have reasons for believing that they are not exterminated theie 

 yet, though rare. 



I can find no records of any "houses" having been seen in 

 Crdifornia and I have seen none west of Colorado. In phccs 

 >A here dry banks that Beavers can burrow in occur the Beavers 

 do not build houses. In fact all houses that I ever saw ,vere 

 pi -iced in ponds made by damming- streams so as to get sliH wa- 

 ter to build in, and these localities were either too rocky to bur- 

 rr..v in easily or suitable dry banks, were not available. Dams 

 are nol often built in streams that do not freeze over, the princi- 

 pal use cf the dam^ being to provide deep water to stjre logs and 

 branches in for a food supply when the streams are frozen over 

 and it is not practicable to cut wood and float it to where they 

 wish to eat the bai-k and twigs. In most parts, o'^ Califorina the 

 presence of Beavers is only made known by iP.c stumps of the 

 trees and saplings that they have cut. 



The use of the tail as a trowel or barge is but another of 

 those "fairy t.i'c?" that unfortunately creep into natural liisiory 

 accuur.tb. The use of the tail in water is in (li\'in^' and Ic some 

 extent as a ludcki'. When on land it is us-^d :is a prop when ihe 

 animal wishes to sit up and gna\v the bark from a stick held in 

 the fore paws, or to cut down a tree. Swimming is done with 

 hind feet, the fore feet being mostly held folded back under the 

 breast. When swdmming on the surface, if frightened or suspic- 

 ious, it is not unusual for the Beaver to strike the surface of the 

 water with the flat tail, making a sharp report, that heard near 

 one on a still night is startling enough, as I know from exper- 

 ience. Beavers have been credited with great intelligence, but the 

 facts do not indicate an uncommon account of reasoning power; 

 many other rodents are nearly or quite as cunning. 



