72 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



sleeping during the day, and exceedingly active during the night. They are said to burrow, 

 but their nails appear scarcely fitted for this office ; we should rather think that they take 

 possession of vacant burrows, or accidental cavities. They have often been noticed in 

 ploughed grass lands, where the sods of the furrows, by lapping over each other, form long 

 and convenient cavities, in which they make their nests. Mr-. Jesse Booth, of Orange county, 

 writes to me, that " in cross-ploughing some years since, my attention was taken up by see- 

 " ing some small thing move off from near my plough, at about the moderate walk of a man. 

 " It went over ridges and descended the hollows of the furrows, bearing some resemblance to 

 " an old withered oak leaf. I jDursued it, when it proved to be one of these wood-mice, or 

 "jumping mice; a female, with four young ones attached by their mouths to its teats." 

 The same gentleman informs me, that " although abundant in his neighborhood, they do very 

 " little damage in the grain fields. They are never seen in the clear daylight, unless dis- 

 " turbed. I once saw two of them," he adds "between sunset and dark, jumping up in 

 " rapid succession, and making a chirping noise like sparrows." 



It feeds on the roots of grass, grain, seeds, etc. ; but its injuries to man must be inconside- 

 rable. If we are right in supposing all the descriptions as applicable to one species, our Deer- 

 mouse has a considerable geogi-aphical range, extending from 62° north to 40°. It has been 

 noticed by Say at the base of the Rocky Mountains. 



FAMILY IV. CASTORID^. 



Body covered ivith two sets of hair, a fine soft down and long suhrigid Jiairs. Tail flattened, 

 and covered ivith rounded or hexagonal scales. Hind feet longest. Ears short. Aquatic. 

 Social. Some species with ivebbed feet ; all ivith a musky sjnell, arising from glands near 

 the amis. 



GENUS CASTOR. Lumens. 



Tail broad, oval, flattened horizontally. Molars sixteen. Toes of the hind feet completely 

 webbed. Teats four. 



THE BEAVER. 



Castor fiber. 



PL.\TE XX. FIG. I. — PLATE VIII. FIG. I, A & B. Skull. 



Castor fiber. LiN. 12 Ed. p. 78. 



PoTui Dog. JossKLYN, Voyages, p. 92. 



Beaver Castor. Penn. Arct. Zool. Vol. 1, p. 98. 



C. fiber. Long's Exped. Vol. 1, p. 46. Harlan, Fauna, p. 122. Godman, Am. Nat. Hist. Vol. 1, p. 105, figure. 



C. {fiber) americanus. RiCHARBSON, F. B. A. Vol. 1, p. 105. 



The Beaver. Emmons, Mass. Report, 1840, p. 51. 



Characteristics. Bay or yellowish brown. Length two to three feet. Tail scaly, naked, oval. 



