The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-19
ODD WAYS OF THE BEAVER
How He Manages to Stay Under Water
 So Long in Winter.

How He Manages to Stay Under Water So Long in Winter. | The current number of Rod and Gun in Canada has an article on the habits of the beaver, in which the writer, Frank H. Risteen, tells some interest," ing things about that most interesting of North American animals. Of the cutting power of the beavers teeth the
 writer says:
 "The beaver is really sort of porta- ble pulp mill grinding up most any ! kind of wood that comes his way, l once measured a white birch tree, 22 inches through, cut down by beaver. 1 A single beaver generally, it not al-
 ways, amputates the tree, and when it comes down the whole family fall to and have a regular frollc with the bark and branches A big beaver will bring down a 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 1 long, chisel-shaped teeth will recover from an injury. have known beavers to break their teeth In biting trap, and when caught them again ten days afterward you couldn't see sign of the break--the teeth had grown out to | their former perfection in that short period" ,
 Mir. Risteen's experience have not given him a very high opinion Of the beavers swimming powers. He writes:
 "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 puf- poses of swimming. It is easy to cap ture one in canoe if you can ma mm l in shoal water. He is a most deter mined fighter, but clumsy and easy to handle If he could get hold or you with his teeth he would almost take le goff-so you want to watch nm sharp. The place to grab him is by the tail"
 Of the ability of the beaver and some other wild animals and birds to remain long time under water this writer says:
 "The ability of a beaver to remain under water for long time IS really not so tough problem as 1t 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 a wide flat bubble. The air coming in contact with the ice and water is purified and the beaver breathes it in again. This operation he can repeat several times. The otter and muskrat do the same thing.
 When the ice is thin and clear have often seen the muskrat attached to his bubble, and by pounding on the ice have driven him away from It, when he would drown in very short time. I believe that the beaver, as well as the loon, sometimes employs this pneumatic suction principle by breath | ing into the mud on the bottom. and thus remaining under water for re- markably length of time"
 That it is difficult to hold most of the shyer fur bearing animals in captivity is known to those who have made the experiment, but the beaver evidently takes the lead in this respect In MT. 1 Risteen's estimation as the following
 will show.
 "It almost takes a burglar-pro 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 a barrel and brought them down to Mramichi Lake. That night she gnawed hole through the barrel and cleared out, leaving her kittens , They were so young that had no way of feeding them, So released them In the hope that the mother might find them Soon after that I caught big male beaver. I made large log pen for him of dry spruce, but the second night he cut log out and disappeared.
 Beaver when alarmed generally make up stream, so I went up the brook to where little branch came in and I thought. I would go up that little way, and hadn't gone more than ten rods before I came across my lad sitting up in the bed of the brook hay ing a lunch on al stick he had cut. He actually looked as if he knew he was playing truant when he caught sight Of me out of the side of his eye.
 q picked him up by the tail, brought him back, put him in the pen, supplied him with plenty of resh poplar and he seemed as tame as possible and never gave me any more trouble. I brought him out to Stanley where he lived a long time. Turnbull had a thorough bred mongrel dog which was jealous of the beaver and one day attacked him. He only did that once, for beaver nip ped the dogs tail off quicker'n cat could catch a mouse"