THE BEAVER FAMILY. 



151 



almost imagine that it was necessary for them to 

 go through some 3ort of education in cutting down 

 trees. It is very interesting to observe how the 

 beaver goes to work to cut down a tree. Attack- 

 ing one side he cuts, by means of his sharp chisel, 

 a regular notch in the tree. One side of this notch 

 is flat like a saw cut ; the other side is brought 

 down to the saw cut by an angle; in fact, he cuts 

 down the trees by the same sort of incision as we 

 ourselves employ to cut a stick out of the hedge. 

 Mr. Bartlett informs me that he has seen the beaver 

 put his head so far into the notch that he was 

 afraid the weight of the tree from above would 

 crush down upon him and smash his head; but 

 Mr. Beaver is a better carpenter than this. Mr. 

 Bartlett has seen him at this stage of the proceed- 

 ings come out and go to a little distance, sit on his 

 hind-legs, and inspect the tree with the air of an 

 engineer looking at a scaffold in process of con- 

 struction. When the beaver has gnawed his notch 

 as deep as he dare into the tree, the cunning fellow 

 will test its stability by standing on his hind-legs 

 and pushing the tree to see the degree of firmness 

 of the portion which holds the two pieces of wood 

 together; but how is he to separate the bit which 

 unites the wood? He simply leaves off gnawing 

 the big notch he has made. He then goes to the 

 other side, where the bark and wood have not been 

 touched at all, and gnaws away until down comes 

 the tree. 



"These beavers are most industrious little animals. 

 These water-carpenters have converted the place 

 into a regular subterranean city, for they have bur- 

 rowed out the earth in such a manner as to form 

 streets, galleries, highways, and by-ways. These 

 runs, I imagine, are made primarily for the purpose 

 of safety, and secondly that the houses or dams 

 may be connected together, so that the families 

 living in the different huts may be able at will to 

 visit their friends." 



Of the beaver family to which the preceding 

 paragraphs relate, there survived in the spring of 

 1887, as the owner of the family was kind enough 

 to inform the translator of the present work, only 

 two individuals. These, however, were apparently 

 healthy, having raised a new dome-shaped house 

 and done a great deal of work in damming, &c.J 



Many writers have uttered sentimental 

 complaints regarding the extirpation of the 

 beaver, but it cannot be denied that this is 

 one of the most destructive of animals. We 



have more need of timber than of its fur and 

 castoreum. It feeds chiefly on roots and 

 the bark and young wood of trees in which 

 the sap is flowing, and it builds dams and 

 habitations in the water out of stems and 

 branches, sometimes measuring 2 feet in 

 diameter. It thus causes considerable de- 

 vastation in forests, especially among willows 

 and poplars. The beaver is consequently 

 an animal that is bound to disappear before 

 the advance of cultivation, and which neither 

 complaints nor pious wishes will be of any 

 avail to preserve. 



The beaver is one of the largest of 

 rodents. It attains a length of more than 

 3 feet, and its flat scaly tail measures about 

 12 inches. Its weight may amount to 66 

 pounds. The body is short and thickset, 

 the back arched. The head is thick and 

 blunt in front. The legs are short and thick, 

 and have five toes with small nails. The 

 hind -toes are connected by a web. The 

 small eyes have a large nictitating membrane, 

 the nostrils are capable of being closed, and 

 the short round ears may be laid over the 

 external ear-passage (auditory meatus) in 

 such a manner as to close it in diving. With 

 respect to the structure of the sexual organs 

 of the female the beaver has a remarkable- 

 resemblance to the marsupials, or even to the 

 monotremes. The fur consists of a fine soft 

 down interspersed with long bristly hairs; it 

 is of a fine chestnut-brown colour, darker on 

 the back than on the under parts. The four 

 cheek-teeth in each half of the jaw present 

 to view extremely complicated folds on the 

 grinding surface ; the thick and broad incisors 

 are covered with a dark -brown layer of 

 enamel. The castoreum is secreted in two 

 pouches in the neighbourhood of the anus. 



The American beaver (PI. XXXVI.), 

 which many naturalists take to be a distinct 

 species, is beyond doubt only a geographical 

 variety. It is rather darker than the Euro- 

 pean, and has a narrower head and a curved 

 profile. 



