THE BEAVER. 



SKULL OF BEAVER. 



Their teeth are wonderfully powerful and sharp, and their jaws are possessed of singular 

 strength, as may be seen by the accompanying engraving of a Beaver's skull. 



So sharp are their teeth, and with such address does the animal use them, that a tame 

 Beaver has repeatedly been seen to take a potato or an apple in his fore-paws to sit up 

 on his hind feet, and by merely pressing the apple against his lower incisors, and 

 manipulating it dexterously, to 

 peel it as really as if the opeartion 

 had been performed by human 

 hands with the aid of a knife. 



Not all the Beavers employ 

 themselves in these united labors, 

 for there are some which, like 

 drones, refuse to take any part in 

 the proceedings, and are technic- 

 ally called " Les paresseux," or 

 the Idlers, by the Beaver-hunters. 

 These animals make no dam and 

 build no house, but content them- 

 selves with excavating long tunnels 

 and taking up their abode therein. 

 Several of these idlers inhabit the 

 same burrow, and as they are 

 always males, it is supposed that 

 they must have been conquered 



in the contests which take place between most male animals while they are seeking 

 their mates, and that they must have retired into comparative solitude until they have 

 gained sufficient strength and courage to renew the fight. These idlers are gladly 

 welcomed by the hunters, for they are easily caught, and a skilful trapper thinks 

 himself ill-used if he does not capture every idler that he may meet. 



We now must bestow a little time on the curious odoriferous substance which is called 

 " castoreum" by the learned, and " dark-stones" by the trappers. This substance is se- 

 creted in two glandular sacs which are placed near the root of the tail, and gives out 

 an extremely powerful odor. 



To the castoreum the trapper is mostly indebted for his success, for the Beavers are 

 strangely attracted by this substance, and if their nostrils perceive its distant scent, the 

 animals will sit upright, sniff about in every direction, and absolutely squeal with excite- 

 ment. Taking advantage of this curious propensity, the hunter always carries a supply 

 of castoreum, in a closed vessel, and when he comes to a convenient spot for placing his 

 trap, he sets the trap and then proceeds to manufacture his bait. This process is simple 

 enough, consisting merely of taking a little twig of wood about nine inches long, chewing 

 one end of it and dipping it in the castoreum. The trap is now laid so as to be covered 

 by about six inches of water, and the stick arranged so that its perfumed tip projects from 

 the water. Any Beaver which scents this bait will most certainly come to it, and will 

 probably be captured in the trap. 



Connected with this strange mode of baiting a trap, is a habit which has only 

 recently been brought before the public by the researches of Messrs. Audubon and 

 Bachman. 



If two Beaver lodges are tolerably near each other, the inhabitants of the one lodge, 

 which we will call lodge A, go to a little distance for the purpose of ridding themselves 

 of the superabundant castoreum. The Beavers of lodge B, smelling the castoreum, go to 

 the same spot, and cover the odoriferous substance with a thick layer of earth and leaves. 

 They then place their own castoreum upon the heap, and return home. The inhabitants 

 of lodge A then go through precisely the same process, until they have raised a mound 

 some four or five feet in height. 



O 



To return to the baited trap spoken of in the last paragaph but one. If the Beaver 

 which smells the bait is a young one, it will almost certainly be captured ; but if it should 

 chance to be an old and experienced animal, it will not only avoid capture, but render 



