THE BEAVER. 51 



are cut into lengths and carried off for building 

 purposes. 



" The story that Beavers use their broad flat tails 

 as a ' trowel ' for plastering purposes is said by the 

 keeper (who has spent a very great deal of time in 

 watching their habits, getting up into a tree before 

 dark, and sitting there without sound or motion for 

 hours and hours) to be a myth. He describes the 

 process of plastering as follows : The Beaver swims 

 away from the dam or house upon which it is at 

 work for some distance, then dives, and emerges 



LOWER JAW OF BEAN Ell FROM. THE FEXS. (J NAT. SIZE.)* 



again close to the dam or house, carrying the mud 

 in its mouth. It then places it where required, and 

 proceeds to knead it with its forefeet; and when 

 one considers the enormous amount of work entailed 

 in thus plastering a dam of Soft, or looft. long, 

 i oft. to isft. thick at the base, and 8ft. to loft, 

 high, it makes one wish that our human workmen 

 would display a little more of the indomitable per- 

 severance shown by these wonderful little creatures. 



* From a specimen in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. 



