BEAVER. 
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situations ; as they have been known to fix their 
dwellings in a pond where, from want of food, they 
have all died with hunger; and at another time, 
they have chosen a flat piece of ground, by the side 
of the water, where a sudden thaw has swelled the 
stream to such a height, that with resistless force 
the whole colony has at once been swept away. 
Beavers breed once a-year, bring forth about the 
latter end of winter or beginning of spring, and 
have two or three at a birth : they are exceedingly 
fond of their young, and so affectionate to each other 
that the two young beavers mentioned by Mr. Pen- 
nant, which were taken alive and brought to a neigh- 
bouring factory in Hudson’s Bay, were preserved for 
some time, and throve very fast, till one of them was 
killed by an accident. The survivor instantly felt 
the loss, began to moan, and abstained from food till 
it died. The hunters, who are sensible that these 
creatures love green wood better than old, place a 
parcel of the former about their lodge, and then 
have several devices to ensnare them. Sometimes 
in long traps baited with poplar sticks, laid in a 
path near the water ; and so delicate is the beavers’ 
sense of smelling, that unless the Indians wash their 
hands before they bait the traps, the sagacious ani- 
mal is sure to shun the snare. When the winter 
grows severe, they sometimes break the ice ; and 
when the beavers come to the opening, for the 
benefit of the fresh air, they kill them with hatchets; 
or make a large aperture in the ice, and cover it 
with a very strong net, and then overturn the lodge; 
