The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-02
HOW THE BEAVER BREATHES

His Curious Method of Using the Same
 Air Over Again.
 "The beaver is really a sort of porta-
 ble pulp mill, grinding up most any
 kind of wood that comes his way. I
 once measured white birch tree, twen-
 ty-two inches through, cut down by a
 beaver. A single beaver generally, if
 not always, amputates the tree, and
 when it comes down the whole family fall to and have regular frolic with the bark and branches. A big beaver will bring down fair sized sapling- say three inches through--in about two minutes, and large tree in about an hour
 One of the queerest facts about the beaver is the rapidity with which his
 long, chisel-shaped teeth recover from an injury. I have gnown beavers to | break their teeth in biting a trap, and when caught them again ten days af- terward you couldn't see a sign of the break-the teeth had grown out to their former perfection in that short period.
 "As compared with the otter or mink, the beaver is very slow swimmer. His front legs hang by his sides, and he uses only his webbed hind feet for purposes of swimming. It is easy to capture one in canoe if you can find him in shoal water He is a most de- termined fighter, but clumsy and easy to handle. If he could get hold of you with his teeth he would almost take a leg off, so you want to watch him sharply. The place to grab him is by the tail
 'The ability of a beaver to remain under water for long time Is really not So tough problem as it looks. When the lake or pond Is frozen over, beaver will come to the under surface of the ice and expel his breath, so that it will form wide, flat bubble. The air, coming in contact with the ice and water, is purified, and the beaver breathes it again. This operation he can repeat several times The otter and muskrat do the same thing.
 Tt almost takes burglar proof safe to hold a newly captured beaver. I once caught an old one and two kittens up the north branch of the Sou West, put them in barrel and brought them uOWH tO Mli dIIllNHI IHpt lllSHS she gnawed a hole through the barrel and cleared out, leaving her kittens. They were so young that I had no way of feeding them. so released them in the hope that the mother might find them. Soon after that l caught big male beaver I made a large log pen for him of dry spruce, but the second night he cut log and disappeared.
 Beavers, when alarmed, generally make up stream, so went to the brook where little branch came in, and I thought would go up that little way, and I hadn't gone more than ten rods | before I came across my lad sitting up | in the bed of the brook having a lunch l on a stick he had cut. He actually | looked as if he knew he was playing | truant when he caught sight of me out | of his eye.
 II picked him up by the tail brought | him back, put him in the pen. supplied | him with plenty of fresh poplar, and | he seemed as tame as possible, and nev- CT gave me any more trouble. I brought him out to Stanley, where he | lived long time, Turnbull had dog, which was jealous of the beaver, and one day attacked him. He did that only once, for the beaver nipped the dogs tail off quicker'n a cat would catch mouse. Rod and Gun.