CASTOROLOGIA. l6l 



' ' To secure themselves against the winter storms they commence 

 about the middle of September and give their house a coat of mud 

 all over. It is with the mouth and forefeet, which are formed more 

 like hands than feet, that they convey the materials of which their 

 embankment and house are made. They do not use their tail, as was 

 at one time said, for plastering on the mud, but their forefeet, with 

 which they very carefully stow it in among the sticks. As to what 

 they use for a bed to lie on, it is wood shavings, which they prepare 

 in the following manner : after using the bark for food, they place the 

 stick on end, holding it with both feet a bit apart, then with their 

 teeth pare it down into fine shavings. They are very cleanly in 

 their habits, as the}^ often clean out their house, not casting away 

 the refuse, but using it either on the top of the house or the embank- 

 ment of the dam to patch up a hole. 



" Their food in winter consists wholly of the bark of trees ; had 

 they a choice I have no hesitation in saying they would prefer the 

 willow and poplar. These not growing in the enclosure, they had 

 just to adapt themselves to circumstances, and take a share of what 

 trees thej' could get, consisting of oak, plane tree, elm, thorn, hazel, 

 Scotch fir and larch. Of the hardwood, they seem to prefer elm to 

 plane tree, then oak, of which they eat sparingly. Of the firs, the 

 Scotch has the preference ; as for the larch they did not touch it till 

 early in 1878, since which time they have taken to it very well. 

 As for the alder and spruce fir, they eat almost nothing of them. 

 Along with all these, we have alwaj'S given them a supply of willow. 

 In summer the}- eat freely of the common bracken, likewise grass. 

 and young shoots of every description growing in the place. In 

 autumn they grub up and feed upon roots, chief among which is the 

 tormentil {Potcntilla tormcntilld), better known to Scotch people as 

 " tormentil root," and the young tender shoots of the common spurts 

 before the}^ appear above ground, at the same time cutting down a 

 tree now and again and feeding on the bark. 



" As to the tree- felling it is all done at night ; the number which 

 they have cut down amounts now to 187 trees from five feet in circum- 

 ference downwards. These are all forest trees, besides a great many 



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