38 



NATURAL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part. i. 



THE COMMON Si:Ar,. 



THE BEAVER. 



Travellers usually went well armed, and 

 at night built a large fire, which served 

 to keep tliis cautious animal at a distance. 

 Under such circumstances a catamount 

 will sometimes approach within a few 

 rods of the fire, and they have been thus 

 shot in this state by aiming between the 

 glaring eye-balls, when nothing else was 

 visible. The Catamount will seldom attack 

 a person in the day time, unless provoked 

 or wounded. In the New York Museum is 

 the skin of one of these animals, of whicli 

 the following account is given in Dr. God- 

 man's Natural History.* " Two hunters, 

 accompanied by two dogs, went out in 

 quest of game, near the Catskill moun- 

 tains. At the foot of a large hill, they 

 agreed to go round it in o|)posite direc- 

 tions, and wlien either discharged his rifle, 

 the other was to hasten towards him to aid 

 him in securing the game. Soon after part- 

 ing, the report of a rifle was heard by one 

 of them, who, hastening towards tlie spot, 

 after some search, found nothing but tlie 

 dog, dreadfully lacerated and dead. IJe ! 

 now became much alarmed for the fate of I 

 liis companion, and, while an.xiously look- | 

 ing round, was horror struck by the harsh ' 

 growl of a catamount, which he perceiv- [ 

 ed on a large limb of a tree, crouching up- 

 on the body of his friend, and apparently j 

 meditating an attack on himself. Instant- | 

 ly he levelled his rifle at the beast, and I 

 ■was so fortunate as to wound it mortally, i 

 when it fell to the ground along with the ; 

 body ofhis slaughtered companion. His 

 dog tlien rushed upon the wounded cata- 

 mount, which, with one blow ofhis paw, 

 laid the poor creature dead by its side. 

 The surviving hunter now left the spot, 

 and quickly returned witli several other 

 persons, when tliej- found the lifeless cat- 

 amount extended near the dead bodies of 

 the hunter and the faithful dogs." So 

 recently as 1S30, one of these animals 

 sprang upon an unfortunate woman, as 

 she was passing along a road in Pennsyl- 

 vania, and killed her instantly.! 



The weight of a full grown catamount 

 is usually about ](10 pounds. One of the 

 largest taken in this State, to ray knowl- 

 edge, was killed in Roxbury, in Decem- 

 ber, ]821. It measured 7 feet from the 

 nose to the extremity of the tail, and 

 weighed 118 pounds. Under the name of 

 panther, our legislature give a bounty of 

 $"20 each for the destruction of this ani- 

 mal within the stale. 



THE COxMMON SEAL. 

 Phor.a vlliiUna. — Linn.eus. 

 But what ! exclaims one, the Seal in 

 Vermont— that inland mountain state ? 



Be not surprised, kind reader. It is even 

 so, and there are living witnesses of the 

 fact. While several persons were ska- 

 ting upon the ice on lake Champlain, a 

 little south of Burlington, in February, 

 1810, they discovered a living seal in a 

 wild state, which had found its way 

 tlirougli a crack and was crawling upon 

 the ice. They took off" their skates, with 

 which they attacked and killed it, and 

 then drew it to the shore. It is said to 

 have been 4^ feet long. It must have 

 reached our lake by way of the St. Law- 

 rence and Richelieu ; but it was not as- 

 certained whether the poor (fat) wander- 

 (!r had lost his way, or having taken amiff 

 at society, was seeking voluntary retire- 

 ment from the world — of seals. 



* Vol. 1, p. 301. t Griff. Part V, p. 438. 



Order RODENTIA.— C?trier. 

 This is the same as the order Glires of 

 Linnaeus, and embraces those animals, 

 whose teeth are fitted for gnawing. They 

 have two large incisors in each jaw, sep- 

 arated from the grinders by a vacant space. 

 No canine teeth. The grinders in some 

 of the genera iiave flat or ridged crowns, 

 and in others blunt tubercles. Under 

 jaw articulated by a longitudinal condyle ; 

 stomach simple ; intestines long ; caecum 

 large ; mammae variable in number. 

 They feed generally on vegetables, but 

 the species with tuberculated grinders 

 are nearly omnivorous. 



Gen'os Castor. — Linnaus. 

 Generic Characters. — Teeth, 20 — incis- 

 ors 2. no catiines, grinders, ^-^. Incisors, 

 verv slrono, smooth on the outside, and angalar 

 williin ; grinders have a fold on the inlf rnal ed^e, 

 and three siinilar folds on the outer edue of the 

 upper teeth, "liicli are inverted in the lower ones. 

 Eyes, small ; cars, short and round ; feet, five 

 toed; fore feet short-, hind feet longer and pal- 

 mated ; tail, large, fiat, and scaly; a pouch near 

 the root of the tail in the male filled with an unc- 

 tuous, odoriferous secretion. 



THE BEAVER. 



Castor fiber. — LiNNiiius. 

 Description. — Fur dense, consisting 

 of two sorts, one coarse, long, and of a 

 chestnut, or reddish brown color, the oth- 



