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ON THE EXTINCTION OF THE BEAVER IN LIVONIA. 
From THE GERMAN OF Oskar von LoEwIs.* 
In the last century Beavers were not unfrequently found on 
many of the rivers of Livonia, especially on the Middle Aa. 
About 150 years ago they built in the north of Livonia, on the 
Pernau and its tributaries, and occasionally on the Embach, but 
especially in Central Livonia, on the Aa and in Sedde. They 
may also have occurred in Salis, and on the Duna and its tribu- 
taries, the Oger, Perse, and Erst, in the southern part of our 
province. We have it on the authority of Fischer, that colonies 
actually existed at that time. In his ‘ Versuch Einer Naturges- 
chichte Livlands,’ 1871, he states, that in the year 1724 the 
Beaver-colonies built dams of great height, and thereby largely 
increased the inundations. 
That the Beaver was formerly well-known in these parts is 
shown by the number of places in the Lettish part of Livonia 
that are named after it; for instance, the Beaverbeck and Beaver- 
court estates; again, Beaver-birchwood, Beaver-brook, Beaver- 
hill, &c. Bebris, or Beaver, is not uncommon as a surname among 
the Letts. 
Until the end of the last century the inhabitants of Sedde 
supplied castoreum to the druggists at Fellin, and so late as 1830 
it was obtained from Walk, in the Aa district. But, so far as my 
investigations have gone, since the year 1818 the Beaver seems 
to have frequented only the Middle Aa. Solitary individuals may 
perhaps have strayed into other parts, but this is doubtful, since 
the Aa district of Walk is the only place where there is positive 
evidence of their occurrence. And indeed this northernmost 
- stretch of the Aa furnished the conditions best adapted for the 
protection and continued residence of this much-persecuted and 
defenceless animal. The stately River Aa here flows for more 
than fifty versts almost entirely through great lonely forests and 
occasional meadows; the five or six sparsely inhabited colonies 
and ferry-stations on the river bank cannot make head against 
the original wilderness. The shores of the swift-flowing, generally 
smooth-bottomed Aa, are composed of loose sand. Backwaters 
of great extent occur frequently ; quiet pools; and here and there 
* “Das Aussterben des Bibers in Livland,” von Oskar y. Loewis. ‘Der Zoolo- 
gische Garten,’ December, 1878. pp. 353-857. 
