THE BEAVER. 59 
so that it is with great caution they can be approached 
near enough to see what they are doing. They are 
under cover all day from seven o’clock in the morn- 
ing till seven in the evening. When one comes out, 
it floats on the surface of the water, carefully survey- 
ing the whole scene around, sniffing the air, and if no 
danger is apprehended it dives and disappears. In 
two or three minutes, a number of the colony begin 
to appear and disperse themselves, some to swim and 
sport about in the dam, while others go in quest of 
food. If one of them espies danger it strikes one 
sharp, loud stroke on the water with its tail, when 
all of them that are out come tumbling into the dam 
and disappear. 
““T have seen them wrestle in playfulness and fight 
in anger, and also when the mother was feeding and 
the young one sporting about in the dam, I have seen 
it go and begin to tease her, when, if she did not wish 
to be troubled with it she would strike and shake it, 
and pitch it from her in the dam. They will allow 
of no laziness in any member of the colony; if any 
such there be, they are beaten and driven out to live 
as best they may. These so driven out generally 
roam about, making a burrow here and there, where 
they live for a few months and die.” 
This is not the only experiment which has been 
made of late years in the reintroduction of Beavers 
into this country. A similar attempt was previously 
made in Suffolk. Some Beavers were turned down 
by Mr. Barnes, of Sotherley Park, Wangford, and, 
on their dams being destroyed as an eye-sore, they 
