NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 77 



parallel part is longer than in leucodonta. Externally, the color 

 of the fur is "remarkably close" to that of the Californian 

 race, subauratus. 



Bailey (1936) includes in the range of this beaver in Oregon 

 the coastal area west of the Cascade divide and the whole 

 drainage of the lower Columbia River basin and (in eastern 

 Oregon) the basin of the Snake River. Specimens from the 

 headwaters of the Deschutes, La Grande, Pine Creek near Pine 

 in Baker County, Oreg., and from 5 miles south of Walla Walla, 

 Wash., and from Boise River west of Boise, Idaho, are, ac- 

 cording to this author, "typical pacificus, " but to the southeast 

 intergradation takes place with the Nevada race, bailey i; while 

 in south-central Oregon, in the Klamath section, it is believed 

 that the beaver is identical with the form shastensis of north- 

 eastern California. 



Very recently Jewett and Hall have further divided this 

 coastal beaver by describing as a separate race Castor c. 

 idoneus, a smaller darker subspecies than its immediate 

 neighbors, with a relatively broad skull and short nasals that 

 do not extend much, if any, back of the premaxillae. Although 

 definitely known only from the* type locality (Foley Creek) 

 and Blaine, both in Tillamook County, Oreg., the range is 

 believed to include probably the humid coastal area in Oregon, 

 west of the Willamette drainage. For convenience the two 

 may be treated together here. 



Quoting again from Bailey's account, "a century ago beavers 

 were abundant in almost every lake and stream in Oregon, so 

 abundant that the first trapping expeditions brought back rich 

 returns in fur from the least-inhabited parts of the State. In 

 the vicinity of extensive Indian settlements beavers were less 

 numerous, or even scarce, in those days, and in a comparatively 

 few years of vigorous trapping they became scarce over the 

 whole State, and later while unrestricted trapping was allowed, 

 they were reduced to the verge of extermination." As an 

 example of their abundance, Ogden's trappers from October 

 1826 till the end of the following March took over 2,200 

 beavers in the State. West of the Cascades, the Willamette 

 Valley was considered at one time the finest hunting ground 

 for beavers in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains, 

 but by 1824 they had already become scarce, and Ogden in 

 1827, when he reached the Rogue River, was informed that 



