BEAVER 281 



First of all the beaver strips the tree of its twigs, and then cuts it into lengths, 

 from which it peels and eats the bark. The thicker a trunk, the shorter are the 

 lengths cut, in order to facilitate their transport, pieces of 5 inches in diameter 

 being generally about a foot long, while those of an inch in diameter may 

 measure a dozen feet. Where there is no water-way, the beaver carries or 

 drags the logs, mud, and stones to the building-ground, thus forming paths 

 from the forest to the bank-entrance of the lodge. This track, especially 

 close to the bank where it is perhaps intentionally deepened by the beaver, is 

 sometimes about 30 inches deep, and gradually slopes down to and often into 

 the water. 



All this work, including the gathering of food, is done by night, except iu 

 cases of danger or necessity. In daylight beavers are seldom seen, and then only 

 when enjoying the sunshine" for a moment on the top of a willow, or near the 

 water. Sometimes they will lie on the bank rolled up like a dog with the head 

 resting on the tail. When the sun is down the beaver comes out and may be seen 

 with the upper half of its head above the water, looking all round as if to make 

 sure once more, and then, with fore-paws extended and laid close to its neck, 

 gliding along and leaving a wide wake behind. A beaver swims with only its 

 nose and eyes out of the water, and, even if it has nothing to carry, holds its 

 fore-paws close to the chin: it is able to remain from five to seven minutes 

 below the surface, swimming for a considerable distance. When danger is 

 scented, these rodents strike the water with the broad tail, which is generally 

 used as a rudder ; and then they dive, the smack of the tail on the water being 

 a danger-signal to all the beavers in the neighbourhood, which plunge into the 

 water simultaneously, producing a similar noise as their tails strike the surface. 

 On land beavers are by no means so brisk ; they emerge heavily from the 

 water, with a slow, trailing step, and if startled hasten their walk to an 

 awkward run, soon plunging headlong into the stream with a noisy splash. 

 They return home at daybreak to rest, and frequently sleep on their backs, but 

 never on their sides. 



Beavers keep their homes very clean, remaining in day and night during hard 

 winters, except during a thaw, when they venture out for a time either to repair 

 the domicile, to find food, or for some other purpose. At the end of February 

 the pairing-time begins, and this lasts till March. In April or May the female 

 gives birth to two or four cubs, which at first are blind, but eight days after birth 

 open their eyes, and, if the weather be favourable, soon accompany their parents 

 into the water, where they at once dive and play, sometimes clinging to their 

 mother's back. After four weeks they are fed by the mother with the bark of 

 trees, and after another six or eight weeks they go out with the old ones to gnaw 

 in the forest. If caught at this age they are easily tamed ; beavers being reported 

 to have been taught to follow their masters like dogs. 



Young beavers do not set up a home of their own till the third year, when 

 they sometimes separate from the family and begin to build lodges of their own. 

 They seldom establish themselves within the territory of their parents, but settle 

 farther down stream, it being evident that, if they built up-stream, the water- 

 supply would be altered, and perhaps damage done to the parental lodge. Old 



