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February, 1921 
CONCERNING BEAVER & NUTRIA 
(continued from page 57) 
he will have deep water for a re- 
treat against enemies, especially in 
winter and time of drought. His en- 
trance to his nest or house is always 
below water; but his dwelling is a 
shelf above the water line. When he 
begins to construct the dam, it is true 
he brings the soft clay and earth in 
his mouth for a foundation ; but it is 
not true that he spanks the clay down 
with his tail for a trowel. The only use 
he makes of his tail is. as a rudder, 
when he swims, like the fish, and as a 
balance when he sits up to saw wood 
with his teeth, as a bird balances itself 
with its tail on a branch. Without the 
tail, the bird’s heavy breast in front of 
the feet would topple it forward. If 
you doubt this, watch how fledglings 
cannot fly till they get the tail feathers, 
how a hen has difficulty , keeping her 
balance on a roost when she is molting 
her tail feathers. Having patted down 
a layer of earth with his paws, the 
beaver goes ashore and cuts down young 
saplings. Cases are on record where 
he has cut saplings almost 12 inches in 
diameter. If possible, these saplings 
are so felled that they crash down, 
where the dam is building. If they 
don’t fall in the right place, the beaver 
hauls them over by his teeth. I don’t 
know whether two beavers ever pull on 
the same haul; for I have never seen 
them do it; but I have seen saplings in 
a dam that required the strength of 
more than one beaver; and they have 
not been windfall. They may, however, 
have been float. For such tasks, nature 
has provided the beaver with long 
curved teeth, resembling more than 
anything else I know a pair of small 
garden-rose bush shears. I have a pair 
of such beaver teeth taken from a 
beaver trapped in the Cumberland Lake 
region that would easily span the fore 
arm of a man, or leg of a small horse. 
More earth, more sticks, more saplings 
complete the dam. The beaver then con- 
structs his house with similar methods. 
If the colony grows, the dam will yearly 
grow with more workers, and the num- 
ber of houses will increase till the 
stream or lake, literally backs water 
and floods adjacent land. This hap- 
pened in Algonquin Park, Ontario, dur- 
ing the closed years, till settlers outside 
the limits of the park had to complain 
of flooded lands the colonies of the 
beavers, themselves, spread outside the 
park; and whole families of Indians 
camped on the edge of the park to 
slaughter the rodents, who ventured 
outside the limits. 
This illustrates the necessity of large 
and naturally appropriate ranging 
ground in any game preserve, or fur 
farm for heavers, and in view of the 
value of the fur to Canada’s national 
income, I do not think too wide an area 
of wild lands can be set aside to pre- 
serve the beaver, not as a wild life 
specimen, but as a source of national 
income. The beaver works at night, 
but not being an eight hour man, he be- 
gins work and can be seen at sunset. 
Fur-bearers, as far as I have been able 
to observe them, abhor union hours, 
though they live in communities in peace 
and ask only laws to prevent their de- 
struction. As far as each beaver is con- 
cerned, he is an individualist in his own 
house. Another point — if the current 
is strong, it is a fact the beaver curves 
his dam up stream. That is a pretty 
fine point for animal intelligence, 
whether you call it instinct, or thought. 
Beaver houses are from a few feet to 
15 feet in diameter and five feet above 
water line. The muscles of the beaver’s 
jaws are literally massive for his hard 
timber sawing jobs — whether the result 
of centuries selective survival of the fit 
and death of the weak, or so originally 
created — I don’t know. His favorite 
timber for house building is poplar, cot- 
tonwood, willow, birch, young elm, box 
aspen — all soft woods. His feet are 
webbed or palmated as all aquatic fur- 
bearers’ are. Beaver was coin of the 
realm for centuries in all Canada. 
Skins were not passed as coin, hut val- 
ues were computed in beaver skins. Un- 
til the 90’s of the last century, the Hud- 
son’s Bay Company used to cut down its 
lead tea chests into round coins on 
which were stamped IB, %B, %B and 
the district from which issued — YF — 
EM — N H — York Factroy, East Main, 
Norway House; and these coins passed 
as currency at all company stores; but 
of this I have given a full account in a 
volume on the Hudson’s Bay Company — 
“The Conquest of the Great North 
West.” 
C OME now to nutria, whose fur is a 
little brother to beaver, though the 
nutria, himself, is no relation. 
Nutria comes from South America, 
from a little rat known as the Coypu, 
somewhat resembling our own' Northern 
muskrat. He, too, is aquatic. His fur, 
too, was first used for beaver hats and 
felting, till beaver became so scarce. 
The plucked nutria came on the market 
as a good substitute. Naturally, he is 
a delicate yellow brown, with a fine soft 
under fur. He grows well in captivity, 
becomes a great pet and can be bought 
for fur farming purposes at $8 a pair. 
His favorite diet in domestic life is corn, 
stale bread, cabbages, maple leaves and 
wood. 
His native range runs from Peru and 
Brazil to Patagonia; and best skins 
come from the temperate zones. His 
length is about 20 inches with a tail 9' 
inches; and the catch used to run from 
300,000 to 500,000 skins a year. When 
Uruguay skins used to sell at 48c., Ar- 
gentina South skins used to sell at $3.50 
to $5 and these prices run in the United 
States trade from 50c. for poor and 
small to $6 for good and full sized. 
Nutria resembles our Rocky Mountain 
marmot. The rough hairs are always 
plucked and under fur used to be sold 
dyed as “Nutria seal”. I doubt if this 
“Nutria seal” ever equalled our “muskrat 
In Writing to Advertisers mention Forest and Stream. It will identify you. 
