The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-05-30
The Beaver.

If there be only one species of beaver.
it is very widely distributed throughout
the world. In America it extends al
most as far south as the Gulf of Mexi-
co. 1t once existed in the British
Islands, where, however, it has been
long extinct, and it has become rare in
Europe, in many parts of which it was
once common. It has also become rare
in the United States, disappearing rap
idly as civilization advances, but it Is
still abundant in the wide region of
lakes and rivers which lies to the north
and west of the settled parts of America.
Considerable numbers are also found on
the banks of the Obi and other rivers of
Siberia, and in Kamtchatka.
The beaver is usually at least two feet
in length from the nose to the root of
the tail, the latter being of oval form,
about ten inches in length, fully three
inches in breadth, and scarcely an inch
in thickness. These dimensions are,
however, sometimes exceeded. The
general form of the animal is thick and
clumsy, thickest at the hips, and then
narrowing abruptly, so that it seems to
taper to the tail. The head is thick
and broad, the nose obtuse, the eyes
small, the ears short and rounded. The
fur consists of two kinds of hair; the
longer hair is comparatively coarse,
smooth, and glossy; the under coat is
dense, soft, and silky. The incisors, or
cutting teeth, of the beaver are remark
ably strong, and exhibit in the highest de-
gree the distinctive characteristic of the
order to which it belongs-the front of
hard enamel, which in the beaver is of
a bright orange color; the back of the
tooth, formed of a softer substance. is
more easily worn down, 30 that a
sharp, chisel-like edge is always pre-
served, the bulbs being also persistent,
80 that the teeth are continually grow
ing, as by their employment in gnawing
wood they are continually being worn
away. Each foot has five toes; those of
the fore feet are short and not connected
by web; those of the hind feet are
long, spreading out like the toes of a
goose, and webbed to the nails. In
accordance with this remarkable pecul-
iarity the beaver in swimming makes
use of the hind feet alone, the fore feet
remaining motionless and close to the
body. Another characteristic, to which
nothing similar appears in any other
rodent, is the large horizontally flatten-
ed tail, which, except at its root, is not
covered with hair, like the rest of the
body, but with scales.
The food of the beaver consists of the
bark of trees and shrubs and the roots
of water lilies and other aquatic plants.
In summer it eats berries, leaves, and
various kinds of ,herbage. There is
reason to think that 1t never, as has been
supposed. kills or eats fish. Like some
other rodents, it lays up stores of pro-
visions for winter but these in the case
of the beaver consist chiefly of bark, or
the branches and even the trunks of
trees. It's extraordinary powers of
gnawing are exerted to cut down trees
of several inches in diameter both for
food and for the construction OF it's won
eighteen inches has been found cut
down by beavers, though they usually
exhibit a preference for smaller ones.
When a large tree is cut, the branches
only. and not the trunk, are employed
in their architectural operations. These
are very wonderful. although the state
ment, at one time commonly made, that
beavers drive stakes into the ground,
has no foundation in fact and some OF
the particulars which passed current
along with it were equally fabulous.
Still, they are marvellous builders. A
recent English writer, in speaking of
the wonderful constructions raised by
their industry, says: "Truly Canadians
may be proud of the beaver. It's works
give a stranger who sees them for the
first time the idea of human intelligence,
industry and forethought. Their dams,
even mistaken for the works of man, are
constructed with an amount of skill
which leads the visitor to form high
estimate of the local engineer and if
he investigate more closely the habits
and modes of life of these extraordinary
animals, he will find in their domestic
habits, in their foresight in providing
food for the morrow, in the way they
regulate their water supply so that in
the highest freshet and the most pro-
tracted drought they are on the one hand
neither 6eluged nor on the other re.
stricted in supply, in the construction
and fortification of their lodges, and
finally, in their system of government,
which drives the drones out of the COM
munity, and regulates the size of the
different households and villages accord
ing to the supply of wood tnat can be
obtained and stored for winter use, he
will find in all their mode of life q
sagacity, a foresight. an intelligence,
and system of organization which
elevate them above some race of savage
men. Their influence on the features
of the country constitute another paral-
lol with man. Many small lakes and
wild meadows are the work of past gene
rations of beavers. First of ali the small
brook is damned by and by this dam
becomes solid, and forest trees take root
and grow on it as other outlets of the
water occur they are closed by these in
defatigable workers, till at length the
pond assumes the proportions of lake,
and remains for all time to attest to
their powers. The meadows are formed
by the draining of the lakes. The beaver
has left more permanent and enduring
monuments of its existence on the eur
face of the country than the aboriginal
inhabitants of Canada have left or are
likely to leave"
The houses or lodges of beavers are
almost without exception grouped to-
gether near the edge of the water, the
mud being scraped away from the front
so as to secure sufficient depth of
water to allow of free egress even during
the most severe frost. The winter stores
OF the animal, consisting of piles or
heaps of wood. are always under water,
and at such depths that they can not be
al L