40 



COMMON BEAVER. 



tent themselves with forming holes in the banks 

 of rivers. The fur of these^ which are commonly 

 termed terrier beavers, is considered as far less 

 valuable than that of the associated animals. 



The Beaver, when taken young, may readily 

 be tamed, and in that state appears to be an ani- 

 mal of a gentle disposition, but does not exhibit 

 any symptoms of superior sagacity. 



In Europe the favourite food of the Beaver is the 

 bark of the poplar, the aspin, the birch, and other 

 soft woods. In America, the Magnolia glauca 

 and the Fraxinus Americana are said to be particu- 

 larly selected. It also feeds on various roots, and 

 especially on those of the Acorus Calamus, or 

 Calamus aromaticus. 



Beavers are said to make their principal excur- 

 sions by night, and to sit by day near the mouths 

 of their dwelhngs on sedges, &c. with their tails 

 immersed in the water. They abound, according 

 to Mr. Pennant, in the Asiatic part of the Rus- 

 sian empire ; and are found in companies, or as- 

 sociated, about the Konda, and other rivers which 

 flow into the Oby. They occur in a dispersed or 

 terrier state in the wooded parts of independent 

 Tartary, and in the chains of mountains which 

 border on Siberia. 



