32 THE BEAVER AND SCOTTISH TRADITION 



Western Norway, and mentions several localities 

 where colonies have long been known or have 

 recently appeared. 



The beaver from earliest days has been the 

 object of unremitting persecution. Apart from 

 its value as food, the fur has ever been greatly 

 in request ; the curious musk-like product, cas- 

 toreum, was highly esteemed as a remedial 

 agent for almost every ailment ; and at a later 

 period its fur was extensively used in the 

 manufacture of hats ; so that ' beaver ' and 

 4 castor ' were both constantly used as synonyms 

 for 'hat.' Fortunately for the beaver, the intro- 

 duction of silk in hat-making and the decline 

 in the demand for castoreum somewhat lessened 

 the persecution ; but the fur is still much sought 

 after, and the beaver is, it is to be feared, 

 everywhere a diminishing race. Whether our 

 European beaver and that of America are to 

 be considered as identical seems to be still in 

 dispute ; but the differences, if any, are so 

 slight that they are practically the same species. 



The beaver bears its part in the science of 

 heraldry, although that cannot be held to be 

 any proof of its former existence in our country. 

 In reply to enquiry, one of our chief authorities 

 on that subject has courteously supplied a list 

 of twenty- two families, some of them Scottish, 



