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THE BEAVER (Castoridae) 



The Beaver is the most interesting of all fur bearing 

 animals. It possesses almost human intelligence, and its 

 instinct is often better than human judgment. It works 

 with marvelous ingenuity, and illimitable patience in the 

 construction of its lodges and dams; and will attack the 

 trunk of a tree, without any regard to its size, and fell it 

 by gnawing through the wood with its chisel-like teeth. 



According to Cuvier, "The Beavers choose waters of 

 sufficient depth not to be frozen to the bottom; and, as 

 far as possible, running streams, in order that the wood 

 that they cut above, may be carried down by the cur- 

 rent to the spot where it is to be used. They keep the 

 water at an equal height, by dams; composed of all sorts 

 of branches, mixed with clay and stones, the strength of 

 which is ever increased, and which finally, by a process 

 of vegetation, become converted into hedges. Each hut 

 serves for two or three families, and consists of two stor- 

 ies. The upper story is dry, for the residence of the 

 animals ; and the lower is under water, for the storage of 

 their bark, etc. The lower story alone is open, and the 

 entrance is under water, having no connection with the 

 land. The huts are a kind of rude wicker-work, being 

 made of interwoven branches and twigs, plastered with 

 mud. There are always several burrows along the bank, 

 in which they seek shelter when their huts are attacked. 

 They only reside in these habitations in winter, in the 

 summer they separate, and live singly in holes in the 

 bank. They are usually caught in traps, but they are 

 sometimes taken in nets; or their houses are broken into, 

 and when the animals take refuge in the water, they give 

 the alarm to their companions by striking the surface of the 

 water with their tail. Beavers have been known to cause 

 the waters of a lake to rise by building a dam across the 

 outlet; and the soil, in many sections, has been enriched 

 by the alluvial deposits, resulting from the dams which 

 have been constructed by beavers to collect the water, 

 that but for their efforts, would have been carried off in 

 many small streams." 



