Chap. 2. 



QUADRUPEDS OF VERMONT. 



39 



THE BEAVER. 



THE BEAVER. 



er shorter, very fine and of smoky or sil- 

 very gray ; head flattened ; nose short 

 and thick ; eyes small ; card short, thick, 

 rounded and covered with sliort fur ; neck 

 short ; body thick ; back arched ; tail flat 

 and broad horizontally, ovnl and covered 

 with oval angular scales ; fore legs very 

 short and small ; and the fore feet are us- 

 ed as hands for conveying food to the 

 mouth ; hind feet with long, hard and 

 callous soles, and long toes connected by 

 a web. The usual length of the beaver 

 from the nose to the origin of the tail, is 

 from 30 to 40 inches, and the tail about J 1 

 inches long and G broad at the widest 

 part. The usual weight of a full grown 

 Beaver is stated by Dr. Richardson to be 

 about twenty-four pounds. 



History. — The beaver, though former- 

 ly a very common animal in Vermont, is 

 probably now nearly or quite extermina- 

 ted, none of them having been killed 

 within the state, to my knowledge, for 

 several years. The last, of which I have 

 any account, was killed, in Esse.x: county, 

 12 years ago.* The vestiges of its la- 

 bors are, however, still found in " the 

 beaver meadows" in all parts of the coun- 

 try. The peculiarities in the form of the 

 heaver, and especially the remarkable in- 

 stinct, which guides him in the construc- 

 tion of his dwelling, have alwaj's render- 

 ed him an object of admiration, and ma- 

 ny accounts of him have been published, 

 most of which abounded in e.xaggeration 

 and fable. The following account by 

 Hearne, who studied the habits of this an- 

 imal for 20 years, in the fur countries 

 around Hudson's Bay, is pronounced by 

 Dr. Richardson,* who, himself, had the 

 best opportunity for ascertaining its truth, 

 to be the most correct and free from ex- 

 aggeration, which has ever been publish- 

 ed. 



" Where beavers are numerous, they 

 construct their habitations upou the 

 banks of lakes, ponds, rivers, and small 

 streams; but when they arc at liberty to 

 choose, they always select places wJiere 

 there is -sufficient current to facilitate the 

 transportation of wood and other necessa- 

 ries to their dwellings, and where the 

 water is so deep as not to be frozen to the 

 bottom during the winter. The beav- 

 ers that build their houses in small riv- 

 ers and creeks, in which water is liable 

 to be drained off", when the back supplies 

 are dried up by the frost, are wonderfully 

 taught by instinct, to provide against that 

 evil, by making a dam quite across the 

 stream, at a convenient distance from 



* Letter of the Hon. J. Tarker, of Orleans, to the 

 Author, Sept. 27, 1841. 

 t Fauna BoreaM Americana, Part 1. page 108. 



their houses. The beaver dams differ in 

 shape, according to the nature of the 

 place in which the}- are built. If the wa- 

 ter in the stream have btit little motion, 

 the dam is almost straight ; but when the 

 current is more rapid, it is alwcays made 

 with a considerable curve -convex tow- 

 ards the stream. The materials made 

 use of, are drift-wood, green willows, 

 birch and poplars, if they can be got ; al- 

 so mud and stones, intermixed in such a 

 manner, as must evidently contribute to 

 the strength of the dam ; but there is no 

 order or method observed in the dams ex- 

 cept that of the work being carried on 

 with a regular sweep, and all the parts 

 being made of equal strength. In places 

 which have been long frequented by beav- 

 ers undisturbed, their dams, by frequent 

 repairing, become a solid bank, capable of 

 resisting a great force both of water and 

 ice ; and as the willow, poplar and birch, 

 generally take root and shoot up, they by 

 degrees form a kind of regular planted 

 hedge, which I have seen in some places 

 so tall that birds have built their nests 

 among the branches. 



" The beaver-houses are built of the 

 same materials as their dams, and are al- 

 ways proportioned in size to the number 

 of inhabitants, which seldom exceeds four 

 old and six or eight young ones ; though, 

 by chance, I have seen above double that 

 number. Instead of order or regulation 

 being observed in rearing their houses, 

 they are of much ruder structure than 

 their dams; for, notwithstanding the sa- 

 gacity of these animals, it has never been 

 observed that they aim at any other con- 

 venience in their houses, than to have a 

 dry place to lie on ; and there they usu- 

 ally eat their victuals, which they occa- 

 sionally take out of tlie water. It fre- 

 quently happens that some of the large 

 houses are found to hnve one or more 

 partitions, if they deserve tJie appellation;, 

 but it is no more than a part of the main 

 building, left by the sagacity of the beav- 

 er to support the roof^. On such occa- 

 sions, it is common for those difierent 

 apartments, as some are pleased to call 

 them, to have no communication with 

 each other but by water ; so that, in fact, 

 they may be called double or treble hous- 

 es, rather than different apartments of 

 the same house. I have seen a beaver- 

 house built in a small island, that had 

 near a dozen different apartments under 

 one roof; and, two or three of these only 

 excepted, none of them had any commu- 

 nication with each other but by water. 

 As there were beavers enough to inhabit 

 each apartment, it is more than probable 

 that each family knew their own, aiid al- 



