472 
MAMMALIA. 
European Beavers, instead of congregating to work and live in 
common like their brethren in America, lead a solitary life and 
inhabit burrows, which has caused the name of Terrier Beavers to 
be given them. Indeed, it can be readily understood that the 
vicinity of Man, his incessant persecutions and interruptions, 
would disturb the quietude of streams and rivers, the choice 
retreats of this race, and therefore they are forced to modify the 
habits of their lives. 
It is a melancholy circumstance to note that the Beaver is 
gradually disappearing, as well in America as elsewhere. So 
Fig. 203.— Tlie Beaver {Castor fiber). 
incessant has been their pursuit, and so indiscriminate theii* 
slaughter, and their numbers have so considerably diminished 
within a century, that we might prognosticate the time that the 
species will cease to exist.* 
“ The societies of Beavers/’ says M. Ernest Menault, in an 
article which we will again refer to, “ maintained themselves on 
our soil (France) until the termination of the Middle Age, not- 
withstanding the constant attacks made on them by Man. But 
* Of late years, from the value of Beaver skins having much diminished, and 
consequently their being less persecuted, they are again rapidly increasing. — Ed. 
