154 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Photo by C. Rild\ 



N.B. 



BEAVER 



This is a photograph of a swimming bea-ver. Note the advantage it bas taken of the 

 eddy in the stream 



ous for its fur to be a valuable 

 item in the winter fur-sales. 



The beaver's tail is flattened 

 like a paddle and covered with 

 scales ; its hind feet are webbed 

 between the toes ; it has sharp 

 claws, which aid it in scratching 

 up mud, and a thick, close fur, 

 with long brown hair above, and 

 a most beautiful and close under- 

 M ^_ fur, which, when the long hairs 

 ^H have all been removed, forms the 

 beaver fur of which hats were 

 once made, and trimmings for 

 ladies' jackets and men's fur coats 

 are now manufactured. There are 

 two separate lines of interest in 

 connection with the animal pol- 

 itical and zoological. The value of the fur was anciently such that, when the first French 

 explorers began to search the Canadian lakes, and later when the Hudson Bay Company suc- 

 ceeded to the French dominion, the history of Canada was largely bound up with beaver-catch- 

 ing and the sale of the skins. In the early days of the Company the " standard of trade " of 

 the Northwest was a beaver skin. For nearly a century the northern territories were organised, 

 both under French and English rule, with a view to the beaver trade. The beaver was, and is, 

 the crest of the Canadian Dominion. 



The beavers' engineering feats have for their object to keep up a uniform depth of water in 

 the streams where they live. On large rivers there is always enough water for the beaver to 

 swim in safety from its enemies, and to cover the mouth of the hole which it makes in the 

 bank, just as a water-rat does. But on small streams, especially in Canada, where during the 

 winter the frost prevents the 

 springs from running, there is 

 always the danger that the 

 water may fall so low that the 

 beavers would be left in shal- 

 low water, a prey to the wol- 

 verine, wolf, lynx, or human 

 enemies. To keep up the 

 water, the beavers make a 

 dyke or dam across the 

 stream. This they go on 

 building up and strengthen- 

 ing until they have ponded 

 back a large pool. In time, 

 as they never seem to stop 

 adding to their dam, the pooi 

 floods the ground on either 

 side of the stream and makes 



Phttt b) Dr. R. W. Shufcldt] [ffaihingttn 



a small lake. It flows over MUSK-RAT 



i parts of the bank where A imall -water rodent, a native of our rivers. Immense numbers are killed for the sake of 



their holes are ; these also be- their fur 



