Aug. 12, 1911.J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
259 
My first personal acquaintance with beaver 
began in December, 1907, while wandering along 
the banks of the Madawaska River in the Algon¬ 
quin National Park in Ontario. Standing for a 
moment to study a wonderful beaver dam at the 
head of a rapid, there appeared three of those 
remarkable animals in the open water of the 
rapid, dragging a small tree. This they cut up, 
after which they crawled up on the edge of the 
ice and commenced feeding upon the bark, hold¬ 
ing the sticks firmly with their fore paws. After 
this a search was made for the house. All that 
could be found was a huge pile of brush covered 
with mud and snow. Was this a beaver house? 
Going back to camp I related my experience to 
the veteran ranger, Robert Balfour, expressing 
my disappointment at the shape of the house, 
etc. I shall not forget his reply: “My lad, be¬ 
fore you have been on this staff many months 
you will find many things written about beaver 
that are false. Get all the information you can 
from trappers, Indians, etc., but remember that 
many of these men only study the habits of the 
beaver to destroy them for their pelt; therefore, 
prove all those things for yourself before ac¬ 
cepting them as facts.’’ This advice has been 
followed and while I do not wish to pose as an 
authority upon beaver, I wish to give a few 
facts which I will be willing to prove to the 
most skeptical. 
So well known is the shape and outline of the 
beaver that description is unnecessary. The 
body is covered with a thick coat of brown fur, 
the guard hairs along the back a reddish-brown 
color. Short ears set well back upon the head, 
so acute is their sense of hearing, also their 
sense of smell, that a person who endeavors to 
see those cunning chaps at work must approach 
from the leeward. At the slightest unnatural 
sound they are on the alert and the chances are 
that the only thing seen will be a splash, caus¬ 
ing the water to fly up like a stone thrown into 
the water. If a person is not aware of this trick 
he will most likely look around and feel like 
saying a few things to the party whom he thinks 
is spoiling his chances of seeing a beaver. In 
the meantime the sly chap has risen to the sur¬ 
face beside an old log or brush with just eyes, 
ears and nose out of the water, and will be 
watching the movements of the trespasser upon 
his privacy. 
Their eyes are small and black, quite dull in 
daytime, but sharp-sighted in the twilight and 
darkness. The mouth of a beaver is so con¬ 
structed that with the four long incisor teeth 
they can cut off a stick two inches thick in ten 
feet of water with the greatest ease. The sides 
of the mouth close in behind the incisor teeth, 
preventing any water from entering the mouth. 
The incisor teeth in the upper jaw are about 
two and one-half inches long, protruding about 
one inch; in lower jaw three inches long, pro¬ 
truding about two inches. In full grown beavers 
the surfaces of these teeth are covered with a 
light brown enamel, very hard and sharp and 
which appears to grow faster than other por¬ 
tions of the tooth. It is with these teeth they 
fell trees for food and remove the bark when 
feeding. Near the rangers’ headquarters is a 
black birch tree nineteen and one-quarter inches 
thick cut down by beaver and dozens of other 
trees a foot or more through. 
The grinder teeth, sixteen in number, are short, 
four on each side top and bottom of mouth, 
the lower jaw working forward and back, not 
sidewise as with cows or horses. The fore feet 
have five long toes and the claws are not webbed 
and are not used for swimming. The fore paws 
they use to wash their food, carry mud, stone, 
etc., to place the same upon their dams or 
houses, dig roots for food, etc. The hind feet, 
claws and all on a full grown beaver are about 
four inches long and three wide, full webbed. 
These they use for swimming. The second toe 
on inside of each hind foot has a double claw, 
the upper claw quite sharp. Old hunters say 
the beavers use these to pick off water fleas; 
others to pick chips out of their teeth. These 
theories are advanced no doubt for want of 
something better to say. 
Those who have dissected a beaver know that 
no inexperienced person can distinguish the sex 
of a beaver. Just inside the vent in both sexes 
are two semi-solid glands about three inches 
long and an inch thick in the center. These 
are known as the oil stones. From these glands 
the beaver gets the oil to dress his furry coat, 
and it may be possible that the double claw is 
used to carry the oil and comb it into their fur. 
Next to the oil stones lay the castors in both 
sexes, which both sees use upon scent piles, 
which are small piles of mud placed upon the 
shore of lake, stream or pond. Upon this pile 
they vent their scent, and every beaver coming 
that way in spring time of the year will call and 
follow example. These facts the professional 
trapper knows and uses this knowledge with 
.deadly effect upon the beaver. The castors are 
used for medicine when mixed with whiskey and 
are used by residents in this northland as a 
cure-all. An excellent salve is also made from 
them. Dried castors are worth $7 per pound. 
Forward of the oil stones and castors in both 
sexes lie the organs of reproduction. The tail 
of a full grown beaver is from ten to fourteen 
inches long, about six inches wide. Its chief 
use is in swimming, it being used as a propellor, 
also to signal danger to their comrades on the 
slightest unusual sound, or the moment they 
scent danger they are on the a'ert, then they 
dive, striking the water with their tail. Upon 
this signal every beaver within hearing distance 
is alert. Beaver never carry mud upon their 
tails or use them for trowels. 
Mark Robinson, 
[to be concluded.] 
Plague and Ground’ Squirrels. 
In the Seattle-Post-Tntelligencer of July 30 
was printed a dispatch from Dr. W. F. Snow, 
Secretary of the State Board of Health, at Sac¬ 
ramento, saying he has received a report of a 
case of bubonic plague at Contra Costa. The 
victim was Horace Flood, age seven years, who 
died on July 26. He is supposed to have become 
infected from bites and scratches of a ground 
squirrel. 
Following this news 185 men have been put 
to work by the federal authorities in San Fran¬ 
cisco and the surrounding bay counties waging 
war against ground squirrels and rats which 
carry the plague germ. 
The Contra Costa case is the first reported to 
the State health authorities this year, and it 
already has resulted in a State-wide enforcement 
of the law enacted by the California Legislature 
in 1909 making it a misdemeanor for any one to 
harbor ground squirrels. 
The squirrels 'are being poisoned and trapped 
by the federal employes who are making every 
effort to prevent the communication of the re- 
crudescent plague germ to the rats of the city. 
During the last year the rats have been freed 
of the germs, and it was thought until the occur¬ 
rence of the Flood case that the danger from in¬ 
fection by the squirrels had ceased. 
1 he federal health authorities were not sum¬ 
moned to attend the Flood boy until two days 
before his death, when it was too late to save 
him. Dr. Rupert Blue, past assistant surgeon 
of the United States Marine Hospital here, at¬ 
tended him. 
"There is absolutely no doubt that the boy 
died of bubonic plague,’’ said Dr. Blue. “The 
complete tests have not yet been made, but 
enough was determined to decide the case finally. 
The federal authorities have put men at work 
in the neighborhood, about a miie north of 
Contra Costa and the State law regarding the 
harboring of ground squirrels will be rigidly 
enforced. If the squirrels can be kept from 
communicating the germ to the rats in San 
Francisco and other large cities, there is no 
danger, but it is imperative that the squirrels 
be stamped out.” 
Another Alexander Expedition. 
San Francisco, Cal., July 26. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: A party of zoologists from the 
University of California has gone to Kern county 
to discover by what mountain passes certain 
rodents have found their way into the Tulare 
basin from the deserts of Southern California. 
This party is headed by Joseph Grinnell and is 
being financed by Miss Annie A. Alexander, of 
Oakland. A full faunal survey will be made of 
the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Kern county 
and the southern terminus of such birds and 
mammals as the white-crowned sparrow, the 
rosy finch, pine grosbeak, marmot, cony and red 
fox will be ascertained. 
The report of W. P. Taylor, curator of mam¬ 
mals in the California Museum of Vertebrate 
Zoology, has issued an account of the results of 
the expedition made two years ago to Humboldt 
county, Nevada, in search of specimens for the 
museum. Thirty-four species of mammals were 
collected, three of these being new to science. 
These are the Nevada wood rat, the Nevada 
gold-mantled squirrel and a short-tailed meadow 
mouse. 
A stormy petrel was recently brought to San 
Francisco alive, the bird having alighted on the 
deck of a steamer far out at sea and was cap¬ 
tured. It is now in the park museum, the only 
specimen of its kind there. Golden Gate. 
