The Beaver, 127 



The food of this species, in a state of nature, consists of the bark 

 of several kinds of trees andshrubs, and of bulbous and other roots. 

 It is particularly fond of the bark of the birch, (Betula,) the 

 cotton-wood, (Populus,) and of several species of willow, {Salix ;) 

 it feeds also with avidity on the roots of some aquatic plants, espe- 

 cially on those of the Nuphair luteum. In summer, when it 

 sometimes wanders to a distance from the water, it eats berries, 

 leaves, and various kinds of herbage. 



The young are born in the months of April and May ; those 

 produced in the latter month are the most valuable, as they grow 

 rapidly and become strong and large, not being checked in their 

 growth, which is often the case with those that are born earlier in 

 the season. Some females have been taken in July, with young, 

 but such an event is of rare occurrence. The eyes of the young 

 Beaver are open at birth. The dam at times brings forth as many 

 as seven at a litter, but from two to five is the more usual num- 

 ber. The young remain with the mother for at least a year, and 

 not unfrequently two years, and when they are in a place of se- 

 curity where an abnndance of food is to be procured, ten or 

 twelve Beavers dwell together. 



About a month after their birth, the young first follow the 

 mother, and accompany her in the water ; they continue to suckle 

 some time longer, although if caught at that tender age, they can 

 be raised without any difficulty, by feeding them with tender 

 branches of willows and other trees. Many Beavers from one to 

 two months old are caught in traps set for old ones. The gravid 

 female keeps aloof from the male until after the young have begun 

 to follow her about. She resides in a separate lodge till the month 

 of August, when the whole family once more dwell together." 



ARTICLE XVI. — Hints to the Young Botanist, regarding the col- 

 lection, naming and preserving of Plants. 



The season for collecting plants in the vicinity of Montreal may 

 be said to commence towards the latter end of April and to ex- 

 tend to the beginning of October. But few plants will reward the 

 early excursions of the botanist, who will measure their value and 

 interest proportionally. Immediately on the melting of the snow, 

 appear the Hepatica triloba, with its purplish-white flowers, the 



