ioo RODENTS. 



Distribution of At the time of the discovery of America, the beaver of that 



the American continent had a wider distribution than any other mammal except 



the puma. Its range extended from Alaska and the Hudson's Bay 

 district in the north, along the Atlantic seaboard as far south as Georgia and 

 Northern Florida, and thence along the Gulf of Mexico as far as the Rio Grande in 

 Texas, and also some distance into Mexico ; while on the Pacific Coast it extended 

 to California and Arizona. The desert and the prairie districts of the interior, as 

 being unsuitable to its habits, were, however, of course, not tenanted by the beaver, 

 which was necessarily confined to the valleys of the great rivers and lakes. 

 Writing in 1877, Mr. C. A. Allen observes that " its present range, however, is 

 much more restricted, very few being found east of the Mississippi River south of 

 the great lakes, and it is everywhere less numerous than formerly. Some still 

 remain in northern Maine and in the Adirondack region of New York, and 

 probably some still survive thence southwards in the sparsely-settled districts to 

 Alabama and Mississippi. A recent article states that they are still abundant in 

 portions of Virginia. Their existence is in great abundance throughout the 

 Atlantic States, and thence westward to the Pacific." Since the date when this 

 passage was penned, the extermination of the beaver appears to have gone on apace ; 

 and Mr. H. T. Martin, writing in 1892, says that only a few colonies now linger in 

 the United States, especially on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains, while in Canada 

 the numbers of the animal are vastly diminished. " Along the watershed, between 

 the Hudson's Bay rivers and the St. Lawrence, in the upper waters of the Frazer 

 and Peace Rivers, and along the Rocky Mountain Range, may be considered the last 

 homes of the beaver." Mr. Martin adds that " as to the ultimate destruction of 

 the beaver no possible question can arise, and the evidences of approaching exter- 

 mination can be seen only too plainly in the miles of territory exhibiting the 

 decayed stump, the broken dam, and deserted lodge. The passing bear or wolverene 

 tears open the lodge, partly in the vain hope of finding a meal ; partly from habit ; 

 the rising waters float the logs away, while the drifting ice in fall and spring 

 gradually destroys the dam, till within a decade, where once the busy colony spent 

 their happy domestic lives, no sign remains of all their wondrous toil." 



Beavers are mainly nocturnal, and almost exclusively aquatic 



animals; although it is stated that during the summer they will 

 sometimes make journeys of considerable length on land, when they subsist upon 

 fruit and corn, instead of their usual diet of bark and twigs. They are likewise 

 essentially social creatures, usually associating in larger or smaller colonies ; 

 although the few still remaining in the rivers of the Old World are owing to the 

 lack of companions for the most part either solitary or in pairs. Needless to say, 

 these animals are expert divers and swimmers ; their movements in the water being- 

 graceful in the extreme, and effected almost entirely by the aid of their powerful and 

 webbed hind-limbs. In addition to bark and twigs, they consume large quantities of 

 the roots and stems of water-lilies and other aquatic plants. The young, usually from 

 three to four in a litter, are produced at the close of the winter or early in the 

 spring, in the shelter of the burrow or lodge, but it is not yet ascertained 

 whether they are born with their eyes open or closed. Beavers do not hibernate, 

 in the strict sense of the term, although during the depth of the winter they sleep 



