472 MAMMALIA. 



European Beavers, instead of congregating to work and live m 

 common like their brethren in America, lead a solitary life and 

 inhabit burrows, which has caused the name of Terrier Beavers to 

 be given them. Indeed, it can be readily understood that^ the 

 vicinity of Man, his incessant persecutions and interruptions, 

 would disturb the quietude of streams and rivers, the choice 

 retreats of this race, and therefore they are forced to modify the 

 habits of their lives. 



It is a melancholy circumstance to note that the Beaver is 

 gradually disappearing, as well in America as elsewhere. So 



Fig. 203.— The Beaver (Castor fiber). 



incessant has been their pursuit, and so indiscriminate their 

 slaughter, and their numbers have so considerably diminished 

 within a century, that we might prognosticate the time that the 

 species will cease to exist.* 



" The societies of Beavers," says M. Ernest Menault, in an 

 article which we will again refer to, " maintained themselves on 

 our soil (France) until the termination of the Middle Age, not- 

 withstanding the constant attacks made on them by Man. But 



* (_>f late ytars, from the value of Beaver skins having much diminished, and 

 consequently their heiiiy let^s persecuted, thty arc agaiir lapidly increasing. — Ev. 



