20 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



unceremoniously turned adrift by the parents to shift for themselves. 

 If possible, they locate farther up the stream, but, if this is imprac- 

 ticable, select the nearest situation possessing the necessary require- 

 ments. It sometimes happens that there are so many dams on the 

 same stream that the back-water from one sets into the next, and that 

 in turn into the one preceding, and so on through the series. It is 

 usually the case that a large colony in any one locality is derived 

 from a single pair of beavers. 



Occasionally solitary or " lone beavers " are met with by trappers ; 

 animals that do not erect dams or houses, but reside in holes and clefts 

 in the banks which they have excavated, or which are the product of 

 nature or of some of the burrowing tribes, as the otter. The cause of 

 their abandoning the society of their kind is unknown. It may be an 

 excess of that melancholic temperament that is assigned to the spe- 

 cies ; possibly, the hermit is the sole representative of an extirpated 

 colony ; perhaps a bachelor unfortunate in being unable to procure 

 a helpmate ; the Indian tribes represent them as pariahs or outcasts, 

 doomed by their kind to solitude on account of shiftlessness or idleness. 

 Certain it is, they are seldom in good condition, and their very mode 

 of living precludes industry. 



The trapping of beaver may be considered as an art in itself, as it 

 demands no small expenditure of patience and perseverance to acquire 

 the experience necessary to make it a lucrative calling. Once on the 

 ground selected as the scene of his labors, the trapper follows the creeks 

 and streams, keeping a sharp lookout for " sign." Every prostrate tree 

 is examined to see if it be the work of the beaver ; tracks are sought 

 for in the mud and sand ; and trails through grass and ferns submitted 

 to careful inspection. The lay of the land having been thoroughly 

 studied, and the presence, movements, haunts, and habits of the ani- 

 mal determined, traps are set at frequent intervals in those localities 

 most likely to produce satisfactory results, and duly baited with " medi- 

 cine." They are placed both on land and in the water ; in the run- 

 ways, at the landing-places, about the dwellings, and before the store- 

 houses, and are visited daily. On land the old-fashioned " dead-fall " 

 has the preference, as it breaks the animal's back without damaging 

 the skin, while the steel trap in such locality only too frequently re- 

 sults in the escape of the quarry, though at the expense of some one 

 of its members ; for the beaver does not hesitate to exercise its sharp 

 teeth in the performance of amputation in order to secure safety. 

 That judgment is demanded in preparing a dead-fall is evident from 

 the fact that it must be adjusted with such nicety that no animal 

 larger than a beaver can pass beneath it, and yet be incapable of being 

 disengaged by anything smaller, such as a mink or musk-rat ; the drop- 

 log, too, must be of dried peeled wood, lest it be pulled down by the 

 very animals it is intended to capture, and carried off to their store- 

 house. The " medicine " used as bait, sometimes denominated " bark- 



