(_Continued from last Issue_)
They have their young during June. When one year old they have two or
three only, the next year as many as six, but in after years the average
number is four. The young stay with their parents for two years and in
the third year they leave and make a home or mate with others who are
making homes for themselves. Under the old unwritten laws of the
Indians, a trap must not be set closer than two hundred yards from a
house, because the young beaver never go that far away from home,
therefore only the two years and older ones would be caught.
_Method of Drowning Beaver_
Owing to their custom of immediately using their teeth on anything that
interferes with their liberty, a trap must be set in such a way that the
animal drowns or he will in a very few seconds cut his imprisoned foot
off close to the shoulder. The system of drowning is as simple as it is
effective. Every trap chain has a ring on the end of it and is usually
set on the edge of fairly deep water with the chain ring over a stick
that has about half an inch of each branch left on, and has been shoved
in the mud out in deep water. The first thing the beaver does when
caught is to spring out into the water, taking of course train and trap
with him, and the ring easily and naturally slips down the pole and when
it reached the bottom immediately checks the flight of the beaver and
does not allow him to even come to the surface again. Consequently, he
is drowned in a very few moments. Ordinarily he can stay under water for
about ten minutes, but when excited and fighting as he would do when
caught, will drown quickly.
_Beaver Tail Useful Implement_
The beaver uses its tail to steer with while swimming and to carry the
mud necessary to construct his house. He will scratch a little pile of
earth up with his fore paws, then turn around and scoop his tail under
the loose mud, holding it stiff and straight out behind on the level of
the water while he swims off to where building operations are going on.
[Illustration: _Two fine, fat, 35 pound beaver_]
_How the Beaver Stores Food_
The beaver's winter store of food is not put too close to the house, but
usually a considerable distance off; sometimes in deep water in the
middle of a pond or under a bank where the water is too deep to freeze
to the bottom. Sticks of cottonwood, cut as large as can conveniently be
handled, are pulled or even carried on their shoulders while they walk
in an upright position to the water, then floated to the spot selected.
These sticks are not shoved into the mud as has often been stated, but
are piled up or built up just as we would build a raft--the first layer
lying one way, and the second layer crossways on top, each layer having
all crevices filled up with mud until the larder is sufficient for his
winter's needs, and is weighed down level with the top of the water.
When he starts to draw from this store, he pulls a stick out from the
bottom and takes it off to his tunnel leading to the bank close by his
house where meals are served.
_Easy To Approach Beaver From Windward Side_
Animals usually can detect the approach of danger if it comes from the
windward side. The beaver is not an exception, but one can be within a
few feet of them when the wind is blowing in the opposite direction, and
they fail to get the scent. For example, an Indian wanted a beaver to
eat and as just before camping for the night he had passed some cuttings
only a little way back on the trail, he decided to go back after dark
and see what luck there was for him. He was careful to approach the
workings from the windward side and after listening attentively he could
hear a beaver cutting trees up on the hill side above him. He selected a
sheltered spot in some brush on the windward side of the slide or the
road that was used by the beaver to skid down the cut wood. Presently
along came the animal, struggling with a large piece of cottonwood. The
Indian waited until after the beaver had passed him, then reached out
and caught the stick, holding it firmly, and as soon as the beaver was
satisfied that it was caught it walked back with the intention of
cutting it loose only to get hit on the head with a stick and killed by
the Indian.
_The Beaver a Castorum Factory_
Both male and female have a pair of glands lying lengthways on the
inside of the skin at the lower extremities, which does not appear to be
controlled as other organs are, but are emptied with the hand by a
downward pressure. The secretion contained in these two bags is a solid
from which oil is extracted and is completely emptied once each year.
Close by every house a handful of dry grass is gathered up and the
castorum deposited, then a few tail-fulls of mud are put on top of it.
What this is done for I am not certain but think it is like a challenge
or a sign that all trespassers will have to fight. When the bags are
emptied in the fall the beaver visit jackpine forests and eat largely of
the gum, I am told by the Indians, for the purpose of replenishing the
castorum supply, and this is likely true, because the odor and character
of the deposit is not unlike pine gum. Castorum has a peculiar
attraction for all wild animals, and the Indians put it to account by
using it as a trap scent. Another advantage it has is that though an oil
substance it is of such a nature that when rubbed on iron traps and set
under water it will not leave the trap and float up like all other oil
substances will do. Commercially it is used as a body in perfumes,
likely also on account of its being able to retain the perfume for such
a long time.
(_To be continued_)
G. L. Bellingham Won Way From Clerkship in Land Dept.
_Assistant Land Commissioner--A Man to Whom Accuracy is Next to
Godliness--Has Earned Continuous Promotion Through 18 Years._