64 The Home of tJie Wolverene and Beaver. 



describe the animal itself, for the sake of those who 

 have never seen it either wild or in captivity. 



A full grown male beaver measures a little over 

 two feet from the nose to the root of the tail, and the 

 latter useful member is very broad and flat, tongue- 

 shaped, and covered with angular scales in place of 

 fur. In shape it resembles a magnified guinea-pig, 

 but only in shape, and I should not degrade the 

 intelligent beaver by comparing it to such a useless 

 little animal did I know any other at all familiar to 

 English readers. If I were writing in America I 

 should say it resembled the musk-rat, whose acquaint- 

 ance we shall make further on. The beaver has an 

 obtuse divided nose, small eyes, and small rounded 

 cars ; its fore-feet are short and slender, with well 

 separated and flexible toes ; with these it conveys 

 food to its mouth, sitting up on its hind quarters, 

 and supported by its flat, leathery-looking tail, much 

 in the same manner as a squirrel. The hind-feet 

 differ from the fore, and bear a great resemblance 

 to those of a goose, being webbed and having hard, 

 callous soles. Now we come to the fatal inheritance 

 of the poor beaver, the possession of which causes 

 it to be trapped, shot, hunted down, and generally 

 put to death by its merciless foes — its fur. This is 

 of two kinds, an upper and an under coat. The 

 former is of long hair, smooth and glossy, but 



