St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-01-28
a WONDERFUL ANIMAL.
The Ingenuity, Shrewdness and Habits OF
the Beaver.


| The Ingenuity, Shrewdness and Habits OF
| the Beaver.
once had an opportunity OF lnVes-
| tigating beaver house. First stood
upon the oyen-shaped roof, and al
though constructed simply of light
twigs, willow switches and mud, my
weight made not the slightest depres-
sion. Cutting through some fourteen
or fifteen inches of solid roof, there
appeared to be sort of underground
town, with liquid streets, where there
was any quantity of winter food laid
up in the shape of ''cordwood.' - There
were partitions which divided the un-
dcrground warehouse into apartments,
with no communication between them
except by means of water canals.
The authorities advance the idea of
these partitions not being erected for
the purpose of dividing up the interior,
but for supporting the roof of the main
building. The posts are solid and SUBJ
stantial, rendering cave in impossi-
bic, and displays rare sagacity in the
animals for the solid supporting of q
heavy roof. Verify these underground
cities are miniature Venices, except
ing that the inhabitants 60 swimming
around the streets instead of floating
from place to place in fanciful gon-
dolas
A beaver dam is almost work of
art Should the water be sluggish,
slow moving. or almost staenant, the
dam will, as q rule, run straight across
from bank to bank; but where the
currents swift, the dam is then curved.
Most of their work is done after night
fall. With their broad, fat tail used
as Il trowel they will draw up mud and
leaves from beneath the surface and
plaster it on as skillfully as a hired
mason would do the job. No crevice
OF hole escapes their vigilant eye, and
that is the reason why we never hear
of beaver dam being washed away.
This animal never hesitates to tackle
a tree no matter what the size may be.
The writer has seen some beaver stumps
as much as thirty inches in diameter
completely cut through by their saw
like teeth and again others that must
have measured in diameter as much as
three feet. In the park on the border
of Beaver lake is one giant cotton
wood that was evidently attempted by
two of the animals at one time, but
right here a curious miscalculation was
made by the workers. A log lay against
the tree on the uphill side, and at this
point one of the pair started in to
slaughter the tree, while the other
worked from the ground on the oppo-
site side and fully two feet lower than
his comrade. Previous to commencing
the job, a large rotten limb had first
been cut away to make room for the
workers; but after all it was labor lost.
for the tree was never utilized. 1t fell
against another large tree, and re-
mains in that position to-day. There
are many other trees in the park
girdled, though not entirely cut
through. The food of beavers in this
latitude consists principally of willow.
aspen, cottonwood, alder and the balm
of Gilead; but, as remarked. they are
gradually retreating before the en-
croachments Of civilization, so that the
principal beaver colonies in the North
west to-day are high up among the
peaks of the Rocky mountains.
Wherever water can be found there
will the beaver 60. The cottonwood
tree disappears at about eight thousand
feet, and for the next two thousand
feet the quaking aspen becomes the ia
vorite bill of fare; but when the aspen
supply becomes rather limited then the
little rodents depend chiefly upon will
lows and dwarfed shrubs. 1t is we'll to
note that they will touch no kind of
resinous wood for food, although pines
and frs are used indiscriminately in
the construction of dams. Montana
Cor. ST. Louis Globe Democrat.