FOREST AND STREAM. 








| Trees of Northern» America. 
} 
| Romeyn B. HovcH, author of “American 
Woods,” has issued his “Handbook of Trees of 
the Northern States and Canada, East of the 
Rocky Mountains.” This is a volume of 470 
pages, and it will prove to be one of the greatest 
value to foresters, lumbermen, botanists, nature 
Istudents and sportsmen. In preparing this work 
‘Mr. Hough hit upon the plan of photographing 
ithe leaves, branches, flowers and nuts against 
a background ruled both ways, the lines being 
‘one inch apart. In the large illustration which 
lwe reproduce from the book it will be noted 
ithat the chestnut twig is slightly enlarged, while 
the leaves and nuts are reduced in size. One 
who has never seen a chestnut, therefore, can 
readily know, after inspecting the engraving, 
that they are somewhat less than one inch in 
idiameter.. In the book two whole pages are 
‘devoted to each variety. On the left hand one 
lis a full page half-tone plate of the size re- 
produced herewith; on the right hand page three 
‘cuts, showing the trunk of a tree, the geographi- 
ical distribution, and the wood structure. With 

WOOD STRUCTURE MAGNIFIED FIFTEEN DIAMETERS. 
these there is a complete description and all 
information concerning the specimen. 
To describe one couplet of pages is to de- 
scribe the book, save that these photo-descrip- 
tive pages are followed by a synopsis of the 
families and genera, with analytical keys to the 
species. We cannot recommend the book too 
|highly to those fond of nature study and the 
| Stream: 

forest. It is published by the author, at Low- 
ville, N. Y. 

Catching Beaver for the Adirondacks. 
GARDINER, Mont., Sept. 17.—Editor Forest and 
Thirteen years ago I had occasion to 
catch some live beaver for the National Zoologi- 
}cal Park, which they required, and they par- 
ticularly wanted them without injury or mutila- 
tion of any sort. This I found impossible to 
do by any means of trapping them therm known, 
so I studied out a scheme for catching them in 
nets and succeeded in getting ten. Twelve 
years ago I caught four, and last year the Forest, 
Fish and Game Commission of the State of New 
York got permission from the Secretary of In- 
terior in Washington to have twenty-five beaver 
captured in Yellowstone Park. Major John 
Pitcher, then superintendent of the park, turned 
the matter over to me, as I was the only one 
who understood the business, but owing to other 
matters which claimed my attention I did not 
do anything last year. This year, under General 
S. B. M. Young, superintendent of the park, 
+1 took the contract, bit owing to the uncertainty 
tof the undertaking I 
t would not specify any 
number, but said 1 would do the best I could. 
Not having any other engagements I started 
out the 14th of August, with an equipment con- 
sisting of wire dip nets, material for making 
metal-lined boxes for shipping the beaver, a 
roll of heavy wire poultry netting, mattocks, 
shovels and picks, provisions, tents etc., a team 
and four men. I went to my old stamping 
eround at Yancy’s and commenced down Elk 
Creek, about a mile and a half below camp. It 
was necessary to break three separate dams to 
get at the first dam, where there were beaver 
living. In breaking the dams we had to pull 
out all sorts of sticks, logs and different sorts 
of willows,’ jammed into the banks and inter- 





TRUNK OF TREE IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA, 
The diameter is indicated by the pocket rule near base. 
locked; dig out the rotten wood that had been 
in a length of time, and cut the dam down to 
the old channel. 
As soon as the water began to fall I placed 
a strip of netting across the creek above the 
house; I pegged it down on to the bottom and 
out on each shore and stationed a man there 
so that the beaver could not pass without being seen 
if possible. When the water began to get low 
in the dam I put netting across the outlet, with 
another man stationed there to see that the 
beaver did not escape that way. As soon as it 
was possible to approach the house I took the 
dip nets out and watched for the beaver in case 
any of them attempted to come out. 
From this first dam that we broke, with the 
beaver house in, two young ones came out, about 
half grown kittens as we call them. These we 

caught outside. After the water got quite low 
we started to break into the house and a large 
one came out, which we caught in an old run- 
way. As fast as we caught one in the dip nets 
we put it in a small cage that we had for trans- 
portation, slung and carried on a pole. These 
three beaver made quite a load for two men. 
We had to carry this up over a very rough trail, 
over rocks and logs and through beaver dams, 
trees and undergrowth, to camp, where we placed 
the beaver in» boxes we had ready for them. 
When we went back down and broke into the 
house there were no signs of any more beaver. 
If we had left any in there they had escaped. 
We had not enough men to leave any there to 
watch the house, as it took all our force to carry 
the beaver up to camp. 
We went on breaking dams, searching out all 
the old runways, houses and hiding places. 
Sometimes, in spite of all our caution, beaver 
would crawl under the nets or through the dense 
willows and bushes and escape in that way. But 
these we would eventually get, because they 
ALA) GA 
If od 

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
would have to locate somewhere and make some 
sign. : 
1 have noticed that there is a great deal of 
individuality in beaver. Usually the first beavers 
to show themselves are the young ones; then 
what I take to be the males, and lastly the 
females. Now and then one would come out 
of a house while we were breaking the dam, 
and would swim around in plain sight, slapping 
the water with its tail and trying to drive us 
away. As we say, he was “on the scrap” from 
the commencement. These beaver are more 
easily caught, however, than those that attempt 
to hide. The little ones seem to be actuated 
more by curiosity and are easily taken in “out 
of the wet.’ I say “easily taken in,” but I 
should qualify that by saying that means there 
is a great deal of wading around in the mud 
and water. Often in our eagerness to catch the 
beaver we slip off the bank into the muddy 
water where we cannot see the depth, and go 
over our boot-tops, sometimes to our waists in 
the cold mud and water. Sometimes the beaver 
pass our dip nets, going under or to one side. 
Sometimes they disappear in the mud, but as 
they have to show up once in a while for air 
we get after them and soon corner them in some 
hole or runway catch them in the open water. 
It is pretty difficult work trying to accomplish 
anything in this mud, for it sticks to our feet 
and pulls our boots off if we are not careful, 
and besides it is very tiresome walking. 
After the beaver are picked up in the dip nets 
some of them show considerable fight, jumping 
at one and biting at the wire of the net. Occas- 
ionally some of the larger ones cut the wire 
with their teeth as though it were twine or ordi- 

