1954 The Zoologist — January, 1870. 



meal." On this subject I find the following remarks in ray note- 

 book : — "One remarkable feature in the economy of the beaver is the 

 immense quantity of food it consumes, which must be seen to be 

 appreciated, and this can only be done during the long winter months. 

 At this season we used to trap them through the ice, and consequently 

 had to chop a fresh hole, or rather open the old one, every time we 

 visiled our traps, which occurred at intervals of two or three days. 

 On every occasion, as soon as the hole was cut, the 'whittled' slicks 

 were forced into the opening, and we had always to remove nearly a 

 cart-load of these short sticks, from which the bark had been eaten, 

 before we could inspect our traps. The base of the house in the fall 

 of the year is of such large dimensions that I have no doubt much of 

 the wood sunk by mud is used as food during the winter, but the 

 beavers have probably a store elsewhere." 



Of the period of gestation Mr. Green writes, it " is known with little 

 certainty, as they are never trapped in summer. Tlie female brings 

 forth some time about the end of June ; and it is a year before a 

 beaver is full grown ; and even then it has not the emhoiipouit of an 

 elderly beaver. * * * * It produces from three to four at a birth. 

 The teats are placed between the fore legs." Mr. Brown says (the 

 italics are his), "'J'he beaver has {xom four to ten young — most often 

 four, sometimes eight, rarely ten. It carries its young six months. It 

 produces in May. * * * * Sometimes as many as three genera- 

 tions will remain around the paternal abode." In \\\y notes I find that 

 I have written, " If a beaver's house is undisturbed, the young — two 

 or four, and even sometimes six ? — do not leave the parents until the 

 second, or perhaps generally the third year, and are then called 'big 

 medlars.' They do not breed until the following May or beginning of 

 June, when they are termed ' old beavers.' The young under one year 

 old are called ' pappoose,' and at two years ' small medlars.' " Mr, 

 Green and Mr. Brown inform us that the young are called " kittens " 

 west of the Rocky Mountains: they are invariably called " pappoose" 

 in Newfoundland. 



Of the dam Mr. Green says: — "They begin to build their dams 

 about July or August, as soon as the summer floods begin to subside. 

 For this purpose they generally choose a bend in the stream with 

 high and clayey banks, and commence by felling a large tree that will 

 reach across the water ; or they fell a tree on each side of the water so 

 as to meet in the centre. The\' then float sticks from six to four feet 

 long down to the dam, and lay them horizontally, filling in the spaces 



