HABITS OF THE BEAVER. 261 



romantic stories liave so fastened themselves 

 on the mind of childhood, and have been so 

 generally made a part of our education, that 

 we now are almost led to regret that three- 

 fourths of the old accounts of this extraordinary 

 minimal are fabulous ; and that, with the excep- 

 ;ion of its very peculiar mode of constructing 

 its domicile, the beaver is in point of intelli- 

 gence and cunning greatly exceeded by th© 

 fox, and is but a few grades higher in the 

 scale of sagacity than the common musk-rat. 



The following account was noted down by 

 us as related by a trapper named Prevost, who 

 had been in the service of the American Fur 

 Company for upwards of twenty years, in the 

 region adjoining the spurs of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, and who was the " Patroon" that con- 

 veyed us down the Missouri river in the sum- 

 mer and autumn of 1843. As it confirms the 

 statements of Hearne, Richardson, and other 

 close observers of the habits of the beaver, we 

 trust that, although it may present little that is 

 novel, it will, from its truth, be acceptable and 

 interesting to our readers. Mr. Prevost states 

 in substance as follows : 



Beavers prefer small, clear water rivers, and 

 creeks, and likewise resort to large springs. 

 They, however, at times, frequent great rivers 

 and lakes. The trappers believe that they can 



