244 BEAVERS 



interesting monograph of the North American beaver, 1 

 an animal which is distinguished scientifically from 

 the European species only by a slight difference in the 

 bones of the head. He calls his book The Romance of 

 the Beaver, which is doing it scant justice, for it is 

 a thoroughly workmanlike study of the nature and 

 habits of a creature about which much that is mythical 

 and unsound has been written. Mr. Dugmore's purpose 

 has been, first, ' to provide a book free from exaggera- 

 tion and not too technical ; secondly, to call attention 

 to the question of protecting the most interesting 

 animal to-day extant.' To this end he spent many 

 seasons studying beavers in and about their homes. 

 He is the first naturalist to succeed in photographing 

 these most elusive animals in a wild state. 



' In all my experience,' says he, 'of hunting with the camera, 

 no animals have ever given me so much trouble. The best 

 pictures I have obtained of lions and other big and dangerous 

 beasts were secured with far less difficulty than even the 

 worst of my beaver studies. . . . The surest way is, of 

 course, by flashlight, and the surest place is at the dam. A 

 small break in the structure will be almost certain to induce 

 the beaver to come to repair it, as they don't like to let the 

 water escape. ... If all goes well, you will get lots of 

 exposures, but in most cases the pictures will show simply a 

 shapeless mass of wet fur. Such, at least, has been my 

 experience, for out of about thirty exposures only four or 

 five showed the animal with any shape.' 



Few creatures equal, none excels, the beaver in the 

 strength, foresight, and engineering skill applied to 



1 The Romance of the Beaver, being the History of the Beaver in 

 the Western Hemisphere, by A. Radclyffe Dugmore. (London, 

 Heinemann. ) 



