THE BEAVER. 



51 



are cut into lengths and carried off for building 

 purposes. 



" The story that Beavers use their broad flat tails 

 as a ' trowel ' for plastering purposes is said by the 

 keeper (who has spent a very great deal of time '\\\ 

 watching their habits, getting up into a tree before 

 dark, and sitting there without sound or motion for' 

 hours and hours) to be a myth. He describes the 

 process of plastering as follows : The Beaver swims 

 away from the dam or house upon which it is at 

 woi'k for some distance, then dives, and emerges 



LOIVEK, JAW OF BEAVER FilOM THE ^B^^S. {% NAT. SIZE.)* 



again close to the dam or house, carrying the mud 

 in its mouth. It then places it where required, and 

 proceeds to knead it with its forefeet; and when 

 one considers the enormous amount of work entailed 

 in thus plastering a dam of Soft, or 100ft. long, 

 I oft. to 15ft. thick at the base, and 8ft. to loft. 

 high, it makes one Avish that our human workmen 

 would display a little more of the indomitable per- 

 severance shown by these wonderful little creatures. 



* From a specimen in the Museum of tlie Eoyal College of Surgeons. 



E 



