The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 6<j 



Lot us now pass on to modern accounts of the 

 habits of the beaver. It is agreed that they prefer 

 small clear streams, creeks, and springs, to great 

 rivers and lakes, although they sometimes frequent 

 the latter. Where the animals are abundant their 

 dams are thrown across the stream up to its very 

 source, and are formed of small stones, mosses, 

 mud, and branches of trees stripped of their bark, 

 and measuring about three feet in length and 

 from six inches to a foot in circumference. That 

 they frequently fell trees of considerable size is 

 indisputable, on some occasions trunks as large as 

 eighteen inches in diameter have been found, but 

 even with their sharp teeth the labour must be 

 immense, and their only object in undertaking it is 

 to make use of the bark and branches, the latter of 

 which are alone employed in the construction of a 

 dam, the trunk, divested of its bark, being left 

 where it falls. The trappers state that the beavers 

 give them notice of the approach of an early winter 

 by cutting their wood before the usual time ; and 

 indicate pretty accurately its probable severity by 

 the precautions they take to meet its rigour. 



In forming their dams the animals employ their 

 noses as a pig does its snout, rooting up mosses 

 and clay, and stuffing them between the framework 

 of matted and interlaced sticks until the whole 



