278 RODENTIA. 



Kingsley claims that many of the tales that have been 

 told about this animal are fanciful exaggerations. He 

 says, "No beaver could learn the trick of felling the tree 

 to fall in a given direction. What it has found out, is, 

 that by biting a tree long enough, and hard enough, it can 

 bring down within reach the twigs it Avants to eat. The 

 appearance of a stump left by a beaver is different from 

 that left by a woodsman, who causes the tree to fall in 

 the required direction by cutting one side lower than the 

 other. The tree felled by the beaver is gnawed all around 

 its circumference, so that an hour-glass shape results, with 

 a constantly contracting center, until the tree falls to 

 whatever side it is inclined, the trunk as well as the end 

 of the stump being conical." Those who have seen trunks 

 of trees floating in the streams, where the beavers have 

 operated, know that the stories told about its sagacity 

 in only cutting the trees that can be used in the construc- 

 tion of its homes and dams are products of the imagina- 

 tion; but on the other hand, it is certainly something 

 more than a coincidence, that the trees felled by the 

 beavers never fall in the direction of their lodges ; some- 

 thing certainly teaches them to bite harder on the side 

 where a deeper cut will cause the tree to fall in the direc- 

 tion that will save the work, upon which they have ex- 

 pended so much time and skill, from destruction. 



Beavers work only at night, and their food is of a 

 vegetable nature. They thrive in captivity, and can be 

 tamed and made to eat bread and cabbage, or flesh. 

 Dr. Richardson says: "The Beaver attains its full size 

 in about three years, but breeds before that time. Ac- 

 cording to Indian report, it pairs in February, and after 

 carrying its young about three months, brings forth from 

 four to eight or nine cubs, toward the middle or end of 

 May." Hearne states the usual number of young pro- 

 duced by the Beaver at a time to be from two to five, 

 and that he only saw six, in two instances, although 

 he had witnessed the capture of some hundreds in a gra- 

 vid state. In the pairing season, the call of the Beaver 

 is a kind of groan ; but the voice of the cubs, which are 

 very playful, resembles the cry of an infant. 



The Beaver is a large animal, weighing from forty-five 

 to sixty pounds; and measuring fro)n two to three feet in 



