THE BEAVER. 17 
which leads them to remove a knee-cap from each Beaver 
and to throw it into the fire. They would expect ill-luck 
were they to omit this ceremony, which is wonderfully 
like the custom of our fishermen of spitting into the 
mouth of the first fish they catch, and on the first money 
which they take in the day, “ for luck.” 
Generally, the Beavers desert their huts in the summer 
time, although one or two of the houses may be occupied 
by a mother and her young offspring. All the old Beavers 
who have no domestic ties to chain them at home, take 
to the water, and swim up and down the stream at liberty, 
until the month of August, when they return to their 
homes. There are, also, certain individuals called by the 
trappers “les paresseux,” or idlers, which do not live 
in houses, and make no dam, but abide in subterranean 
tunnels like those of our common water rat, to which 
they are closely allied. These “ paresseux” are always 
males, and it sometimes happens that several will inhabit 
the same tunnel. The trapper is always pleased when he 
finds the habitation of an idler, as its capture is a com- 
paratively easy task. 
