The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-12-28
How the Beaver Breathes in Winter.
TFrOm Rod and Gun.1

- LII
1.-The beaver is really a sort of porta-
BILE pulp mill. grinding up most any
kind of wood that comes his way. 1
once measured a white birch tree. %
inches through, cut down by a beaver.
A single beaver generally,i if not always,
anputates the tree. and when it comes
down the whole family fall to and have
a regular frolic with the bark and
branches. A big beaver will bring down
a fair sized sapling-say three inches
through-in about two minutes, and q
large tree in about an hour.
"One of the queereSt facts about the
beaver is the rapidity with which his
long, chise1-shaped teeth recover from
an injury. 1 have known beavers to
break their teeth in biting a trap, and
when 1 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 a very slow swimmer. His
front legs hang by his sides, and he
uses only his webbed hind feet for pur-
poses of swimming. 1t is easy to cap
ture one in a canoe if you can find him
in shoal water. He is a most determ-
ined fighter, but clumsy and easy to
handle. If he could get hold of you with
his teeth he would almost tax a leg
off, SO you want to watch him sharply.
The place to grab him is by the tall
1.-The ability of a beaver TO remain
QIQc water " q long Lille ID ISdAly
not so tough a problem as it looks.
When the lake or pond is frozen over, a
beaver will come to the under surface
of the ice and expel his BREATH. so that
it will form a wide, fiat bubble. The air,
coming in contact with the ice and va
ter, is purified and the beaver breathes
it again. This operation he can repeat
several times. The otter and muskrat
do the same thing.
"It almost k a burglar proof safe
to hold a newly captured beaver. 1 once
caught an old one and two kittens up
the north branch of the Southwest, put
them in q barrel and brought them
down to Miramichi Lake That night
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 I caught a big
male beaver 1 made a large log pen
for him of dry spruce, but the second
night he cut a log and disappeared.
Beavers, when alarmed, generally
make up stream, SO / went to the brook
where a little branch came in. and 1
thought would go up that a little way.
and 1 hadn't gone more than ten rods
before l came across my lad sitting up
in the bed of the brook having a lunch
on a stick he had cut He actually
looked as If he knew he vas playing
truant when he caught sight of me out
of the side of his eye.
Il picked him up by the tail, brought
him back, put him in the pen, supplied
him with plenty of fresh poplar, and ne
seemed as tame as possible. and never
gave me any more trouble. / brought
him out to Stanley, where he lived a
long time. TurnbuIl had a mongrel dog.
which was jealous of the beaver, and
one day attacked him. He did that only
tail off q~uicker'n a cat would catch q
mouse"