The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 75 



mentions finding one that weighed forty-five pounds, 

 and sixty-one pounds before cleaning is mentioned 

 by another traveller ; but both these specimens 

 must have far exceeded the average weight, which 

 may be put down at from fifteen to twenty-five 

 pounds. 



Their food consists of the bark of the aspen, 

 willow, birch, poplar, and alder, besides bulbous 

 and other roots. In summer, when they wander to 

 some distance from water, they eat berries, leaves, 

 and various kinds of herbage. The young are born 

 in the months of April and May ; those produced 

 in the latter month are the most valuable, as they 

 grow rapidly, and become large and strong, being 

 unchecked in their growth, as is often the case with 

 those born at an earlier season. The dam usually 

 brings forth from two to five at a time, and the 

 young beavers, whose eyes are open at their birth, 

 remain with their mother for at least a year, and 

 not unfrequently for two. Where food is abundant 

 and they are undisturbed, a family of ten or a 

 dozen may be seen living in one lodge. They are 

 often caught young, and are easily domesticated. 

 And now I think I have taxed the reader's patience 

 sufficiently concerning the Castor Fiber; the method 

 in which it is captured will appear further on. 



