384 
VEETEBRATA. 
to accomplish, and is performed in tlie following manner: every man being furnished with an ice- 
chisel, lashes it to the end of a small staff about four or five -feet long; he then walks along the 
edge of the banks, and keeps knocking his chisel against the ice. Those who are acquainted with 
that kind of work well know by the sound of the ice when they are opposite to any of the bea- 
vers' holes or vaults. As soon as they suspect any, they cut a hole through the ice big enough 
to admit an old beaver, and in this manner proceed till they have found out all their places of 
retreat, or at least as many of them as possible. While the principal men are thus employed, 
some of the understrappers and the women are busy in breaking open the house, which at times 
is no easy task, for I have frequently known these houses to be five or six feet thick, and one in 
particular was more than eight feet thick in the crown. When the beavers find that their habita- 
tions are invaded, they fly to their holes in the banks for shelter; and on being perceived by the 
Indians, which is easily done by attending to the motion of the water, they block up the entrance 
with stakes of wood, and then haul the beaver out of its hole, either by hand, if they can reach 
it, or with a large hook made for that purpose, which is fastened to the end of a long stick. 
"In this kind of hunting, every man has the sole right to all the beavers caught by him in the 
holes or vaults; and as this is a constant rule, each person takes care to mark such as he discov- 
ers by sticking up a branch of a tree, by Avhich he may know them. All that are caught in the 
house are the property of the person who finds it. The beaver is an animal which cannot keep 
under water long at a time, so that, when their houses are broken open, and all their places of 
retreat discovered, they have but one choice left, as it may be called, either to be taken in their 
house or their vaults; in general, they prefer the latter, for where there is one beaver caught in 
the house, many thousand are taken in the vaults in the banks. Sometimes they are caught in 
nets, and in summer very frequently in traps. 
"In respect to the beavers dunging in their houses, as some persons assert, it is quite wrong, 
as they always plunge into the water to do it. I am the better enabled to make this assertion 
from having kept several of them till they became so domesticated as to answer to their name, 
and follow those to whom they were accustomed in the same manner as a dog would do, and they 
were as much pleased at being fondled as any animal I ever saw. In cold weather they were 
kept in my own sitting-room, where they were the constant companions of the Indian women and 
children, and were so fond of their company, that wheii the Indians were absent for any consider- 
able time the beaver discovered great signs of uneasiness, and on their return showed equal marks 
of pleasure by fondling on them, crawling into their laps, lying on their backs, sitting erect like a 
squii-rel, and behaving like children who see their parents but seldom. In general, during the 
winter, they lived on the same food as the Avomen did, and were remarkably fond of rice and 
plum-pudding; they would eat partridges and fresh venison very freely, but I never tried them 
with fish, though I have heard they will at times prey on them. In fact, there are few graminiv- 
orous animals that may not be brought to be carnivorous." 
Of the habits of the beaver in a state of confinement, M. Broderip furnishes us with the follow- 
ing interesting account,, relating to one taken to London some years ago : 
"The animal arrived in England in the winter of 1825, when 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 shipped at the same time, and it was in a very pitiable condi- 
tion. Good treatment quickly restored it to health, and kindness soon made it familiar. When 
called by its name, 'Binny,' it generally answered with a little cry, and came to its owner. The 
hearth-rug was its favorite haunt, and thereon it would lie stretched out, sometimes on its back, 
sometimes on its side, and sometimes fiat on its belly, but always near its master. 
"The building instinct showed itself immediately it was\let out of its cage, and materials were 
placed in its way; and this before it had been a week in its new quarters. Its strength, even be- 
fore it was half-grown, was great. It would drag along a large sweeping-brush or a warming- 
pan, grasping the handle with its teeth, so that the load came over its shoulder, and advancing 
in an oblique direction till it arrived at the point where it wished to place it. The long and large 
materials were always taken first, and two of the longest were generally laid crosswise, with one 
of the ends of each touching the wall, and the other ends projecting out into the room. The 
