BEAVER AND NUTRIA 123 



Come now to nutria, whose fur is a little brother to beaver, 

 though the nutria, himself, is no relation. 



Nutria comes from South America, from a little rat known as 

 the Coypu, somewhat resembling our own Northern muskrat. 

 He, too, is aquatic. His fur, too, was first used for beaver hats and 

 felting, till beaver became so scarce, the plucked nutria came on the 

 market as a good substitute. Naturally, he is a delicate yellow 

 brown, with a fine soft under fur. He grows well in captivity, 

 becomes a great pet and can be bought for fur farming purposes at 

 #8 a pair. His favorite diet in domestic life is corn, stale bread, 

 cabbages, maple leaves and wood. 



His native range runs from Peru and Brazil to Patagonia ; and 

 best skins come from the temperate zones. His length is about 

 20 inches with a tail 9 inches ; and the catch used to run from 

 300,000 to 500,000 skins a year. When Uruguay skins used to sell 

 at 48 cents, Argentina South skins used to sell at #3.50 to #5, and 

 these prices run in the United States trade from 50 cents for poor 

 and small to $6 for good and full sized. 



Nutria resembles our Rocky Mountain marmot. The rough 

 hairs are always plucked and under fur used to be sold dyed as "nu- 

 tria seal." I doubt if this " nutria seal " ever equalled our "muskrat 

 seal" and rather suspect it was unprime, faded fur, or side and 

 belly fur rubbed by wear. 



The kittens of the nutria run from 4 to 6 a family ; and the 

 fur will always be a favorite on the American market, where the cli- 

 mate does not demand as heavy a fur as beaver except for motor- 

 ing, which has been one of the chief causes in restoring the heavy 

 furs to favor. In a country, where of 8 million cars, at least a third 

 are long-distance touring cars, the demand for heavy furs is bound 

 to increase, just as improvement in highways permits the touring 

 car to supplant the Pullman with its increasing scale of fares. 



The increased use of touring cars is one reason why the American 

 trade is bound to see increased demand for heavy furs. Look 

 at the motor coats in the shop windows if you want to forecast 



