184 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



those almost interminable forests on the highlands separating the 

 sources of the Hudson and the St. Lawrence, and included in Ham- 

 ilton, Herkimer, and a part of Essex counties. In the course of 

 our journey we saw several beaver signs, as they are termed by the 

 hunters. The beaver has been so much harassed in this State, that 

 it has ceased making dams and contents itself with making large 

 excavations in the banks of streams. Within the past year (1841) 

 they have been seen on Indian and Cedar Rivers, and at Pas- 

 kungameh or Tupper's Lake; and although they are not numerous, 

 yet they are still found in scattered families in the northern part 

 of Hamilton, the southern part of St. Lawrence and the western 

 part of Essex counties." Says Merriam, ''At present [that is, in 

 1886], there is a small colony of beavers on a stream that empties 

 into the West Branch of the St. Regis River. It is probably the 

 colony referred to by DeKay, in 1842, as 'yet existing in the southern 

 part of Franklin County.' " 



In 1895. ^ was estimated by H. V. Radford ('07, p. 417) that 

 there could not have been more than about five or ten beavers in the 

 whole Adirondack region. 



Some Erroneous Popular Beliefs. Among the erroneous ideas 

 more or less current is the notion that the beaver begins his dam 

 by felling trees across the stream and that the dam is built out of 

 logs. 



While the shape of the tail is suggestive of a trowel it is not used 

 as such ; nor is it used as a raft for transportation of mud or other 

 things. Mud is carried in the forepaws which have developed hand- 

 like skill and functions. 



It is no more possible for a beaver to suck air out of branches 

 and poles thus causing them to sink, than it is for a human being 

 to do so. Green wood is nearly as heavy as water and after being 

 immersed a short time will sink of its own accord. Dry wood like- 

 wise becomes water-logged and submerges but takes longer. The 

 beaver makes the sticks or branches stay down at first by partly 

 covering them with mud or by anchoring them among stones or 

 debris on the bottom. 



Beavers have no means for driving poles into the ground and 

 have never been known to do so. 



The beaver does not catch or eat fish. One person in the Adi- 

 rondacks told me of having seen a photograph of a beaver that had 

 a fish in its mouth. If not actually intended as a joke such a photo- 

 graph represents merely an amateurish attempt at nature-faking. 



