WOOL- AND FUR-BEARING ANIMALS 273 



ence is to take toll from the wild creatures among whom they pass 

 their oftentimes dreary lives. 



BEAVER. — This large rodent has had an interesting history, for 

 hundreds of years ago it was a common inhabitant of most parts 

 of Europe, including Britain and Northern Asia. Now-a-days the 

 animal has, of course, long since disappeared from Britain, and 

 even across the water there are few districts in which it still exists, 

 and then because it is rigorously preserved. In America a somewhat 

 similar tale has to be told, for, owing to the ceaseless persecution of 

 the valuable beast on account of its pelage, and an odoriferous sub- 

 stance known as castoreum, its numbers have been alarmingly 

 reduced, until to-day it is chiefly in the West and in Canada that 

 a few animals remain. The photograph (Fig. 216) depicts the 

 Canadian Beaver, admirably displaying it in a characteristic attitude 

 and showing to advantage the flat tail. 



The last Beaver appears to have disappeared from Great Britain 

 during the twelfth century, and from a valuable paper read by my 

 friend Mr. Hugh Boyd Watt, M.B.O.U., before the Glasgow 

 Natural History Society, I learn that Mr. John Smith has found its 

 remains in the Ardrossan Shell-mound and in Cleaves Cove, Dairy, 

 N.B., whilst in 1874 a small colony was established at Mount Stuart, 

 Bute, by the then Marquess of Bute, but by 1890 the animals had 

 all died out. 



As Fig. 216 shows, this is a stoutly built animal, with short, 

 strong legs bearing sharp claws; only the hind-feet are webbed. 

 The large head has short ears, whilst the broad, flat tail is very 

 distinct, being scaly and furrowed. The thick, soft coat worn by 

 the Beaver has mostly been accountable for its downfall, for we are 

 told that about one hundred and sixty years ago no less than 127,000 

 skins were exported from Quebec alone, whereas to-day its numbers 

 have been so reduced that probably not more than one-twentieth of 

 this number of animals are trapped over the whole of America and 

 Canada. 



In colour the coat is chestnut-brown above and greyer under- 

 neath, and it is interesting to note that the further North the Beaver 

 inhabits the darker its fur becomes. 



It is not only on account of its valuable fur that this rodent has 

 attracted attention, for it is a wonderfully industrious creature, and 

 has been well described as "the most methodical engineer and 

 builder of all animals." 



T 



