154 



The Living Animals of the World 



BEAVER. 



This is a. photograph of a swimming beaver. Note the advantage which it has taken of the 

 eddy in the stream. 



with a colony ; but parts of the 

 Danube are believed to be the 

 chief haunt of the European beaver 

 at the present time. The American 

 beaver, though its range has 

 greatly contracted, is still sufficiently 

 numerous for its fur to be a valuable 

 item in the winter fur-sales. 



The beaver's tail is flattened 

 like a paddle and covered with 

 scales ; its hind feet are webbed 

 between the toes; it has sharp 

 claws, w r hich aid it in scratching 

 up mud, and a thick, close fur r 

 with long brown hair above, and 

 a most beautiful and close under- 

 fur, which, when the long hairs 

 have all been removed, forms the 

 beaver-fur of which hats were once 



made, and trimmings for ladies' jackets and men's fur coats are now manufactured. There 



are two separate lines of interest in connection with the animal political and zoological. The 



value of the fur was anciently such that, when the first French explorers began to search the 



Canadian lakes, and later when the Hudson Bay Company succeeded to the French dominion, 



the history of Canada was largely bound up with beaver-catching and the sale of the skins. In 



the early days of the Company the " standard of trade " of the North-west was a beaver-skin. 



For nearly a century the northern territories were organised, both under French and English rule, 



with a view to the beaver trade. The beaver was, and is, the crest of the Canadian Dominion. 

 The beavers' engineering feats have for their object to keep up a uniform depth of water 



in the streams where they live. On large rivers there is always enough water for the 



beaver to swim in safety from its enemies, and to cover the mouth of the hole which 



it makes in the bank, just 



as a water-rat does. But 



on small streams, especially 



in Canada, where during the 



winter the frost prevents the 



springs from running, there 



is always the danger that the 



water may fall so low that the 



beavers would be left in shallow 



water, a prey to the wolverine, 



wolf, lynx, or human enemies. 



To keep up the water, the 



beavers make a dyke or dam 



across the stream. This they 



go on building up and 



strengthening until they have 



ponded back a large pool. In 



time, as they never seem to 



stop adding to their dam, the 



pool floods the ground on either 



side of the stream and makes 



& small lake. It flows over the 



Photo liy Dr. R. W. Shufeldt] 



[ Washington. 



MUSK-RAT. 



A small water rodent, a native of the North American rivers. Immense numbers are killed for 



the sake of their fur. 



