THE EUROPEAN BEAVER 1 97 



harrassed an animal should prefer to skulk in a mere 

 burrow, like a rat. It is now ascertained, however, 

 that these animals do live in societies, build huts, 

 and construct dams, when they get a chance of 

 doing so ; Bechstein in 1801 stated that the beavers 

 of the Elbe built dams when the water was calm, 

 cutting down the willows and poplars ; the colonies 

 were, however, less numerous than in Canada. A 

 beaver hut on the Yesil was six feet high, with a 

 three-celled chamber above, and a four-celled 

 chamber below ; colonies of beavers existed on the 

 Ammer as late as 1837. 



Perhaps the best description of a European beaver 

 colony is that of Meyerinck, who, in 1829, communi- 

 cated his account to the Transactions of the Berlin 

 Natural History Society. The colony had been 

 settled for upwards of a century on the Nuthe, a 

 small tributary of the Elbe. In 1822 it only 

 consisted of some fifteen or twenty individuals ; but 

 the members of this tiny republic carried out the 

 full programme of a much larger community. Their 

 burrows penetrated the bank for a distance of 

 thirty or forty paces, on a level with the stream, 

 opening under water ; there were also land 

 entrances to these runs. Their huts, eight or ten 

 feet high, were rudely constructed of branches and 

 tree trunks, and covered with earth ; their dyke was 

 eminently successful, being so well made as to raise 

 the level of the water a foot and more a very 



