BEAVER. 



335 



Beaver, nature, either by its inherent qualities, or by the 

 powerful influ. ice of casual association ; and in the 

 end it is applied even to the relations of fitness, pro* 

 portion, or utility, the perception of which always 

 implies some operation of the rational faculty. 



It is evidently to the expression of objects, rather 

 than to any precise and regularly recurring peculiari- 

 ties in their constitution, that Mr Stewart ascribes 

 their beauty ; as, in the greatest variety of cases, it 

 is by the influence of association alone that he ex- 

 plains our approbation, and accounts for the delight 

 with which we contemplate whatever we consider as 

 entitled to the name of beautiful. See Burke's Phi- 

 hical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the 

 Subli.nc and Beautiful. Hogarth's Analysis of 

 Beauty. Hutcheson's Inquiry concerning Beauty, 

 Sec. Price's Review of the principal Questions in 

 Morals. Reid's Essays on the Intellectual Powers 

 of Man. Sayer's Disquisitions Metaphysical and 

 Literary. Alison's Essays on Taste. Stewart's 

 Philosophical Essays. () 



BEAVER, in Zoology, the English name of the 

 Castor Fiber of systematic naturalists. The gene- 

 ric and specific differences of the beaver tribe, and 

 the peculiarities of structure that distinguish the 

 common beaver from other quadrupeds, will be given 

 under Mammalia ; but in the present article we 

 propose to describe the manners and habits of this 

 singular animal ; and, as far as possible, to correct 

 the errors into which writers have fallen with re- 

 sp'-ct to its economy. 



Of no animal have the accounts given by natural- 

 ists and travellers been more extraordinary, or more 

 marvellous. The beaver has been elevated, in point 

 of intellect and foresight, to a rank scarcely, if at 

 all, inferior to the human race. It has been de- 

 cribed as raising works, and constructing habita- 

 tions, which appear altogether impracticable by an 

 animal whose utmost length does not exceed three 

 feet, whose paws are seldom larger than a crown 

 piece, and whose tail, though broad and flat, has 

 naturally such an inclination downwards, that it can 

 scarcely be brought on a line with the back. Yet it 

 has been asserted that, with such small and unma- 

 nageable instruments, these animals are capable of 

 driving stakes six feet long, and as thick as a man's 

 leg, three feet deep into the ground ; of watling 

 these stakes into a kind of basket work with twigs ; 

 of building huts consisting of several apartments, and 

 even several floors, the latter being supported on 

 notches cut in the upright stakes, and of plastering 

 the walls and ceilings of these apartments with mud, 

 so as to form a smooth and uniform surface. Incre- 

 dible as these assertions may appear, they were not 

 unsupported by testimony ; but this testimony seems 

 to have been the result of ha3ty observation, assisted 

 by that love of the marvellous, so natural to a lively 

 traveller; and it has been flatly contradicted by later 

 observers of equal credibility, and apparently of more 

 experience. Still, however, though we abandon these 

 questionable parts of the natural history of the bea- 

 ver, enough remains abundantly to excite our inte- 

 rest and admiration. 



Beavers are found in most of the northern regions 



VOL. III. PARI III. 



of Europe and Asia, and were formerly not uncom- 

 mon in Britain. At present, they are met with in ' 

 the greatest numbers in North America, where the 

 hunting these animals, and collecting their furs, form 

 a very important object of commercial traffic. In 

 their natural state, they subsist entirely on vegetable 

 food, such as roots, young wood, and the bark of 

 trees ; and as, during summer, these are to be obtain- 

 ed in great abundance, the beavers pass that season in 

 wandering, dispersed about the meadows and thickets 

 that border the lakes and rivers which abound in 

 North America. Here they ramble at their ease, reti- 

 ring, for occasional shelter or repose, to the covert of 

 bushes ; and when any sudden noise indicates the 

 approach of danger, of which they receive notice bv 

 proper centinels, they seek a sure retreat in the 

 neighbouring waters. 



Towards autumn they quit their roving way of 

 life, form themselves into communities, and, instruct- 

 ed by that admirable instinct, of which we have so 

 many examples in the history of the animal creation, 

 begin to provide for the wants of a season, whose 

 duration and inclemency would effectually preclude 

 a regular supply of their accustomed nourishment. 

 On the approach of winter, those beavers which con- 

 stitute an established society retire to their old habi- 

 tations, while such a3 have formed new colonies set 

 about constructing cabins for themselves. 



The winter quarters of the beavers are situated on 

 the bank of a river or a creek, or, where these are 

 not to be found, on the edge of a lake or pond. In 

 selecting the exact spot where they may form their 

 houses, they appear to be guided by two considera- 

 tions, viz. a sufficient depth of water, to prevent its 

 being completely frozen, and the existence of a cur- 

 rent, by means of which they can readily convey 

 wood and bark to their habitations. To prevent the 

 water from being drained off, when the frost has 

 stopped the current towards its source, the beavers 

 construct a dam across the stream; and in this work 

 they certainly display wonderful sagacity, skill, and 

 ranee. The dam is constructed of drift- 

 wood, branches of willows, birch, poplars, stones, and 

 mud, brought by the beavers in their mouths, or be- 

 tween their paws, and not, as many have asserted, 

 on their tails. These materials are .not arranged in 

 any particular order, but are placed indiscriminately 

 in such a manner as to stem the current to the best 

 advantage. If the current be slow, the dam runs 

 straight across; but if the stream be rapid, the dam 

 is formed with a regular curve, having the convexity 

 towards the current, so as effectually to resist the 

 force of the water and ice that rush down during the 

 storms of winter, or the thaws that take place iu 

 spring. These dams are several feet in thickness, 

 and of such strength, when completely formed, that 

 a man may walk along them with perfect safety. 

 As these dams are of the highest importance, the 

 beavers are careful to keep them in constant repair; 

 and if", by any accident, or the mischievous curiosity 

 of human intruders, a part of this essential wall 

 should give way, they immediately collect all their 

 forces, and stop the falal breach. 



Having completed their dam, they proceed to con- 

 3c 



Beaver. 



