BEAVEB. aeT* 



Beaver, 



Most remarkable among rodents for instinct and in- 

 telligence unquestionably stands the beaver. Indeed, 

 there is no animal — not even excepting the ants and bees 

 — where instinct has risen to a higher level of far-reaching 

 adaptation to certain constant conditions of environment, 

 or where faculties, undoubtedly instinctive, are more 

 puzzlingly wrought up with faculties no less undoubtedly 

 intelligent. So much is this the case that, as we shall 

 presently see, it is really impossible by the closest study 

 of the pyschology of this animal to distinguish the web of 

 instinct from the woof of intelligence ; the two principles 

 seem here to have been so intimately woven together, that 

 in the result, as expressed by certain particular actions, it 

 cannot be determined how much we are to attribute to 

 mechanical impulse, and how much to reasoned purpose. 



Fortunately, the doubt that for many years shrouded 

 the facts has been dispelled by the conscientious and 

 laborious observations of the late Mr. Lewis H. Morgan,' 

 whose work throughout displays the judicious accuracy of a 

 scientific mind. As this is much the most trustworthy, as 

 well as the most exhaustive essay upon the subject, I 

 shall mainly rely upon it for my statement of facts, and 

 while presenting these I shall endeavoiu- to point out the 

 psychological explanation, or difficulty of explanation, to 

 which they are severally open. 



The beaver is a social animal, the male living with his 

 single female and progeny in a separate burrow or ' lodge.' 

 Several of these lodges, however, are usually built close 

 together, so as to form a beaver colony. The young quit 

 the lodge of their parents when they enter upon the 

 summer of their third year, seek mates, and establish new 

 lodges for themselves. As each litter numbers three or 

 four, and breeding is annual, it follows that a beaver lodge 

 never or rarely contains more than twelve individuals, 

 while the number usually ranges from four to eight. 

 Every season, and particularly when a district becomes 

 • The American Beaver and his Works (Lippincott & Co., 1868). 



