ECCENTRICITIES OF THE BEAVER. 



A. WHITEHEAD. 



In January Recreation appeared a com- 

 munication from a correspondent in this 

 State, complaining of the scarcity of trout 

 in the South Platte river, and saying the 

 settlers attributed the destruction of the fish 

 to the beaver. You express doubt as to 

 the truth of this statement. I have since 

 received numerous letters asking if this 

 report about our beaver is true, and asking 

 me to reply through Recreation. 



This I cheerfully do; partly because I 

 wish the facts to be known about our 

 beaver; and because nothing delights me 

 more than to give information on scientific 

 subjects. 



For once you are wrong. The Colorado 

 beaver does eat fish. A friend of mine, 

 who is a naturalist, recently told me of an 

 adventure he had, that is so remarkable I 

 would almost fear to give it publicity were 

 there not ample evidence of its truthful- 

 ness. He was fishing for trout in a small 

 stream that flows past his home, in this 

 State, when his hook was seized with such 

 force as almost to cause him to lose his 

 balance. Immediately the fish headed up 

 stream ; and as the angler was unable to 

 check its rush with the light tackle he 

 used, he was obliged to follow. My friend 

 ran up the stream about 300 yards when he 

 finally succeeded in landing the quarry-. It 

 proved to be a trout, as he had conjec- 

 tured, but attached to its tail, and holding 

 on with desperate energy, was a beaver of 

 about 30 pounds weight. My friend dis- 

 engaged the fish from the grasp of the 

 beaver, and, as he found it was below 6 

 inches in length, the legal limit in this 

 State, he returned it to the water. The 

 beaver, however, he retained as a memento 

 of his exciting adventure. 



As an evidence of the truth of my 

 friend's story he showed me a pair of 

 gloves which he said he had made from the 

 skin of the beaver. 



In looking over my diary for notes rela- 

 tive to the habits of beavers, I find the fol- 

 lowing, which I take the liberty of quoting 

 in full : 



"Shortly after the late Ute uprising I, 

 with another scientist, was camped on the 

 headwaters of the Sjambokus river, hunt- 

 ing the Giascntus giganteus. We had met 

 with poor success, when, as I was hunting 

 up the river one afternoon, my attention 

 was attracted by a colonv of beavers at 

 work building a dam. My presence had 

 not been discovered; so, taking advantage 

 of the cover afforded by a big boulder, I 



crept as near as possible to the dam site, 

 and taking out my field glass and note book 

 I proceeded to> investigate. 



The first thing that struck me was that 

 the beavers had provided no fishway around 

 their dam. This was proof that they pur- 

 posed eating the fish. Having impounded 

 the water, they would allow it to freeze 

 over so the fish could not escape to the 

 bank. It would then be an easy matter 

 for the beavers to move about under the 

 ice and gorge themselves with fish. 



My attention was next attracted to the 

 method with which the beavers were con- 

 ducing their work. They were apparently 

 under the direction of a big old beaver 

 with a gray coat and side whiskers. There 

 were several waiters whose duty seemed to 

 be to carry refreshments to the workers. 

 These viands, as viewed through the glass, 

 appeared in size and shape not unlike golf 

 balls, and were carried to the builders by 

 the waiters on their tails. I was puzzled 

 and determined to investigate more closely. 

 Accordingly I made a dash at one of them, 

 and, although the beaver escaped, I cap- 

 tured his load, and, to my astonishment, 

 found it was a codfish ball ! Where the 

 beavers got their codfish balls I am unable 

 to say. In fact, I do not even surmise; it 

 is my purpose merely to record the facts. 

 Dr. Merriam, Dr. Hornaday, or Dr. Curtis, 

 who have delved more deeply into the 

 secrets of nature than I, could enlighten us 

 on this point. 



I have a friend in this city who is away 

 up in science, having attained in a promin- 

 ent institution of learning several degrees, 

 and in order to get the benefit of his more 

 mature judgment I sought him out and 

 asked him to confirm my observations. 

 Tlrs he cheerfully did. 



"You are quite right," said he. "The 

 beaver is one of the most intelligent of 

 mammalia. He does catch fish, an animal 

 - abounding in phosphates and carbohydrides, 

 which in turn serve to maintain his intel- 

 ligence. Thus by one continuous round of 

 alimentary assimilation is his mental supe- 

 riority maintained." 



No, Mr. Editor, do not doubt for a mo- 

 ment that our beaver eat fish. Not only 

 so, but they show a nice discrimination in 

 the selection of the varieties, for they are 

 fond of brook trout and codfish. 



In some parts of our State the inhabi- 

 tants plant trees along the banks of the 

 streams, so that, when hard pressed by 

 beavers, the fish may scale the trees. 

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