Beaver

(bē'ver.) [A.S. bea fer.) (Zool.) A rodent animal, of which there are 2 species, comprising the gen. Castor: The American B. (C. Can a dens is) found all over N. America, and the European B. (C. fiber.) They are much alike, and are characterized among all the Gnawers by the broad, horizontally flattened, and scaly tail. B. have 5 toes to each foot, the hind feet webbed, and the second hind toe has a double claw. With one exception, they are the largest of living rodents, and are wholly aquatic Fig. 72.- AMERICAN BEAVER. in their habits; their feet and tail are admirably adapted for swimming; and their chief food is bark and aquatic plants. Their incisors are very sharp and powerful, enabling them to gnaw down trees of the hardest wood. B. prefer running water, in order that the wood which they cut may be carried to the spot where it is to be used. They keep the water at a given height by dams, which they build of trees and branches mixed with stones and mud, and build houses for winter with the same materials. Each house consists of two stories, and serves for two or three families. The upper story is above water and dry, for the shelter of the animals themselves; the lower is beneath the water, and contains their stores of bark and roots. The only opening to the hut is beneath the water. They have burrows in the banks whither they retire when their houses are attacked. The general color of the B. is a uniform reddish-brown, and the fur is of the best quality, and was formerly very valuable. The B. is now very scarce, if at all to be found in our Eastern States, but it is still common in several parts of the West, especially in New Mexico. [s. 83]