3G2 MR, A. n. GREEN ON THE BEAVER. 



stereotyped notions prevalent in compilations, are yet the result 

 of my own independent observations. 



About January their tracks may be seen in the snow near the 

 outlet of the lakes where young fir trees grow. At this time they 

 prefer young fir trees as food to any other kind of tree, the rea- 

 son, doubtless, being that at this period the sap has not risen in 

 the willow or alder (Alnus oregand). It is not often that females 

 are caught in the spring ; and the males seem to travel about, as 

 the runs are not used so regularly as they are w^hen the beavers 

 are living near. 



Some of the beavers become torpid during January, especially 

 those living near lakes, swamps, or large sheets of water whicli 

 are frozen. They do not lay in a store of sticks for winter use as 

 stated by Capt. Bonvillo (Washington Irving's * Adventures of 

 Capt. Bonville '), as one day's supply of sticks for a single beaver 

 would fill a house — and if a stick were cut in the autumn, before the 

 winter was over it would have lost its sap, and would not be 

 eaten by the beaver. A beaver never eats the bark of a tree that 

 is dead, though he may gnaw a hard piece of wood to keep his 

 tooth down. A little grass is generally found in the houses, but 

 is used as a bed and not for food. 



If February is an open month, the beavers begin to come out of 

 their retreats, and frequent any running water near them ; but it 

 is generally March before the bulk of them come out of 

 winter-quarters. When they come out they are lean ; but their 

 furs are still good, and continue bo till the middle of May — 

 though if a trapper thought of revisiting the place, he would not 

 trap after April, so as to allow them to breed quietly. 



About the end of March the beaver begins to " call." Both 

 males and females " call " and answer one another. Sometimes 

 on one " calling," half-a-dozen will answer from different parts of 

 the lake. I have known beavers to "call" as late as August. 

 Males fight during the rutting-season most fiercely. Hardly a 

 skin is without scars ; and large pieces arc often bitten out of their 

 tails. The beaver holds like a bull-dog, but does not snap. It 

 shakes its head so as to tear. When trapped, it will face a man, 

 dodge a stick, and then seize it, taking chips out of it at every 

 bite. It seems to attack from behind. 



The period of gestation is known with little certainty, as they 

 are never trapped in summer. The female brings forth some time 

 about the end of June ; and it is a year before a beaver is full- 



