58 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 



dam may be frozen over, or the ground covered with 

 snow. What is left of the trunks of the trees that 

 they cannot drag away, they feed on at leisure, eating 

 the bark. 



"Besides the work above ground which I have tried 

 to describe, they have done a great amount of under- 

 ground work, such as cutting channels in their dams, 

 and making burrows. These burrows they make by 

 cutting a road from the middle of the dam for several 

 yards into the dry ground, where they scoop out a 

 dome-shaped burrow from eight to ten inches above 

 the level of the road, then cut a hole through the 

 surface and cover it over with sticks and grass so as- 

 to act as a ventilator. Here they live and feed in 

 security and contentment. Some of the roads to 

 these burrows are from fifteen to twenty yards long, 

 and so level that the water follows them in the whole 

 length. 



" As to the time they bring forth their young, from 

 my own knowledge, I cannot say. I have seen it 

 stated to be January, and also the beginning of May. 

 I can say nothing against that, judging from the size 

 of the young when I first saw them in the second 

 week of June, the oldest litter being about the size 

 of a full-grown rabbit, and the youngest not half that 

 size. 



" From careful observation, I have good reasons for 

 believing they have only one at a birth. One thing 

 I am certain of, they have two litters in the season. 

 Beavers are a class of animals that are very timid, 

 their sight, scent, and hearing very keen, so much 



