THE BEAVER. 
167 
the banks, which serve them for summer retreats ; but 
the experienced hunters readily detect the situation of 
these vaults by striking with their chisels on the ice, 
and always select such spots for making their apertures, 
in which they seldom fail of capturing their victims. In 
summer it is more usual to take them in their houses 
by what is termed staking them. For this purpose the 
hunters first make an aperture in the roof to ascertain 
the situation of the angle, and having adapted a number 
of stakes to the opening so as completely to blockade 
it, cover in the top and leave the stakes on one side 
ready for use. They then drive the Beavers from all 
parts of the pond or river by means of dogs ; and when 
the terrified animals have succeeded in reaching their 
home, they replace the stakes before the entry, remove 
the temporary covering from the roof, and either take 
them alive or spear them in their house. When the 
sheet of water which they inhabit is merely kept up by 
a dam, they are still more easily taken by letting off 
the water, and leaving their huts completely dry. The 
gun is also sometimes, but not very commonly, used; 
and log-traps baited with poplar-sticks occasionally add 
in a trifling degree to the havoc made among them. 
So little is known of the manners of the Beaver in a 
domesticated state, that we feel a peculiar gratification 
in having it in our power to give the extremely inter- 
esting history of an individual which belonged to 
Mr. Broderip, to whose kindness we are indebted for 
the following statement. 
" The animal arrived in this country in the winter of 
1825, very young, being small and woolly, and without 
the covering of long hair which marks the adult Beaver. 
It was the sole survivor of five or six which were ship- 
ped at the same time, and it was in a very pitiable 
condition. Good treatment quickly restored it to health, 
and kindness soon made it familiar. When called by 
