THE BEAVER. 



Beavers and their Habitations. 



Beavers Delong to the family of Rodentia. Their life is wholly aquatic ; they chiefly eat bark and 

 other hard substances, and cut down trees with their strong incisors. They have large glandular pockets 

 under their tail, which produce a pomatum of a strong smell, called castoreum, by the druggists. Their size 



exceeds that of the badger. 

 They select those waters for 

 their dwellings which are too 

 deep to be frozen to the bot- 

 tom, and, as often as possible, 

 running streams ; and, by cut- 

 ting wood above the current, 

 it is carried down by it to the 

 place which they wish to in- 

 habit. They keep the water 

 at an equal height by a dam 

 made of branches mixed with 

 stones and mud, which they 



strengthen 



every year, and 



(109) 



Hunting the Beaver. 



which at length vegetates and 

 becomes a hedge. Each hut 

 has two floors, and serves for 

 two or three families : the up- 

 per, which is dry, for the ani- 

 mals to live in. 



10 



