Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-06-05
WORKED LIKE A BEAVER
A COMMON REMARK THAT is
WELL FOUNDED.
The Busy Beaver Is n Worker from Way
Back and Ho Always Keeps His
Home I'm Order--A Rabbit
Eating Postum.

something about the animal, and
everybody is acquainted with the fact
that it builds dams and houses TO dwell
in. Their dams are exceedingly strong
and durable. and they are prompt in
repairing any injury to them. A
dam cut during the day will usually be
repaired the same night, and in the
morning will be as good rs new. /
remember an instance OF this sort
which occurred on San Juan Island.
An old Englishman named John
Wootton, who was new to the country,
wished to get rid of colony of beav-
ers that lived on his place. and one
day cut their dam. The next morning
he found it repaired and cut it again.
and this time TO brighten away the
ANIMALS when they should come to re-
build it, he set up Il green cottonwood
pole on the dam and hung his over
coat on it. The following day on
visiting the place he not only found
the dam ia its usual good condition,
but the cottonwood pole and his over
coat had gone to help stop the gap he
had made, and were now in the dam.
The houses differ a good deal in size,
location and shape. Some are as
large, though of course less high. than
a small haystack; others are hardly
more than six feet through ut the base.
They may stand either wholly on land
or partly in the water and partly on
the bank, or wholly in the water.
Those in the water are more irregular,
sometimes only rounded, others long
and rather flat on top Within each
house, and connected with the water
by IA concealed passage, through which
the beavers pass TO and fro is the
chamber which is the animals dwell
ing place. 1t is large enough to con-
tain seven or eight Of them, and high
enough to permit a beaver 10 conven-
iently sit up on its launches. 1t il
warm, dry and clean. for tho beaver
is extremely neat in all its habits.
The food of tho beaver consists
chiefly of the green bark of twigs and
young limbs of various trees. / have
known them to eat pine and white
cedar. The beavers often cut down
trees OF very considerable size to get
at the smaller limbs, which they eat.
j have seen cottonwoods 20 inches in
diameter so cut. This work of cutting
down large tree is done by single
animal. | have seen the beaver en-
gagged in the operation, which is per-
formed as fellows: The beaver sits up
on its launches facing the tree and
Nrith its fngsaruNua Vasfinr acrainGt ~
With his head turned TO one side lie
cuts groove above and then one be-
low and bites out the chip. taking it
off In almost the same way an aXeman
would. He thus saves himself the
trouble of gnawing all the wood into
fine cuttings. When the tree is felled
the whole community attack and cut
up the tender limbs, carrying them
away TO the cache.
Unlike many OF our grawing ami
mails the beaver does not sleep through
the winter He remains active, often
venturing abroad during the whole of
the cold weather. He must therefore
having food, and large part of the
summer and autumn is devoted to Sc
curing this food and depositing it in
caches. This food consists of the limbs
and twigs of the trees most preferred
by the beaver. They are cut from J
to 3 feet long, stripped of their leaves
and smaller twigs, carried to the water
and floated to the cache, where they
are sunk. And here comes very Gu
rious point. These sticks are foated
to the cache and are sunk by the beaver
to the bottom of the water, where they
remain without any apparent anchor
age. They are not stuck in the mud
of the bottom, nor held down by
weights. If you lift one to the surface
it will float, but you may move it about
on the bottom without its rising.
Some winters ago arose one morn
ing to find the snow had melted all
night, says a Forest and Stream writer,
and the first thing that popped into my
head was to go coon-hunting, and after
IN early breakfast, accompanied by
colored man with good axe and two
good hounds. we started. We had no
trouble TO find plenty OF tracks of diff
ferent animals, and when about mile
from home we ran across n large coon
track. We had no trouble TO follow
this fellow, for he soon left the woods
and made for a thicket; we followed
through this thicket, about 200 yards
wide, and came to clover field. just
at the edge OF the thicket we came up
on rabbit about half eaten. The i'm
preston in the snow was as plain as
could be, and there was no other track
there except those made by the coon
and rabbit.
The rabbit tracks terminated there.
There was no sign of a chase; the coon
was going south and the rabbit came
from the east and seemed to have run
right in the coon's mouth, as the coon
did not seem to vary any in his course,
DUc aid he take 1t to any spring and
wash it. He simply ate about half of
IT, and left the remainder right there
and went on across the clover field.
We followed him TO some open woods
about quarter OF mile and went to
large elm tree. Failing to find any
tracks leading from this tree we pro-
ceeded TO cut 1t down, and as soon as
20 fo11 fha docyo told ~ fhat ot,, xyo,.ly