Beater (animal)

“ Fights being rarely exceptional between animals of different species, I could imagine no reason why a beaver, most inoffensive of the wood folk, should go out of his way to force a quarrel on an animal with whom he has no dealing from one year’s end to another. The two are not what we call natural enemies, meaning by the thoughtless expression that one does not eat the other as food. ”

“ I suppose man is the worst enemy it's got, but there must be a lot of others, such as wolves and, perhaps, bears."
"Yes," said Hugh, "a beaver has lots of enemies. As I have said to you, it's heavy and slow; it can't run away nor climb a tree, and it has no special means of defending itself. A beaver's got a good set of teeth, but while he can give one or two pretty strong bites, that would not help him much in a scrap with any animal near his own size.
"A bear, of course, would kill a beaver every time if he could get hold of him; so would a big wolf. ”

“ Among these sprouts the beaver had fashioned a nest, and was lying curled up, asleep, when Mortimer, drifting silently down within short range, raised his gun and shot at it.
But the beaver is a "hard-lived" animal, and, even when shot at such close quarters, will quite frequently flop off its perch into the water, and, clutching with teeth and claws into roots or grass at the bottom, remain there. ”

“ They take them with snares in the following manner: though the beavers usually lay up a sufficient store of provision to serve for their subsistence during the winter, they make from time to time excursions to the neighbouring woods to procure further supplies of food. The hunters having found out their haunts, place a trap in their way, baited with small pieces of bark, or young shoots of trees, which the beaver has no sooner laid hold of, than a large log of wood falls upon him, and breaks his back; his enemies, who are upon the watch, soon appear, and instantly dispatch the helpless animal. ”

“ When in the water the beaver was far more graceful and active than when on land, swimming powerfully by means of its large, strong, webbed hind feet, aided, when speed was desired, by the broad, flat tail used like the blade of a sculling oar, which, indeed, it much resembled, being ten inches long by five wide, and smooth, hard, and scaly, and entirely devoid of the soft fur which covered the body. Besides this use in swimming, the tail served as a prop when the animal desired to sit up on land, and also as a sort of trowel for beating down the mud-mortar used in dam building. ”

“ Another method of baiting this animal is thus described in the Encyclopaedia of Sport: “They dig a place in the earth about a yard long, so that one end is four feet deep. At this end a strong stake is driven down. Then the badger's tail is split, a chain put through it, and fastened to the stake with such ability that the badger can come up to the other end of the place. The dogs are brought and set upon the poor animal who sometimes destroys several dogs before it is killed.” ”

“ When the badger is digging, it uses its nose as well as its paws, shoveling the earth aside with it from time to time. And every now and then it walks backward to the entrance of the burrow pushing out the loosened earth in a heap behind it.
The teeth of the European badger are made in a very curious way, for they interlock with one another just like those of a steel trap. The jaws, too, are exceedingly strong, so that the animal is able to inflict a very severe bite. But it is a most peaceable creature, and never attempts to attack unless it is driven to bay. ”

“ With the deadfall a small beaver may have gone entirely inside the snare before the front log falls; and an animal whose teeth saw through logs eighteen inches in diameter in less than half an hour can easily eat a way of escape from a wooden trap. Other things are against the hunter. A wolverine may arrive on the scene before the trapper and eat the finest beaver ever taken; or the trapper may discover that his victim is a poor little beaver with worthless, ragged fur, who should have been left to forage for three or four years. ”

“ I saw the nursery with the little badgers playing about in their bed of moss and grass. The mother badger was very civil to me. She is about the only animal that does not fear the sting of a bee, because her skin is so tough and her hair is so thick. It seems to me that of all animals, the badger is treated with the greatest cruelty. When the hunters catch her, they permit their dogs to torture her to death. The harder the poor creature fights to get away, the worse they abuse her, and the greater it pleases the cruel hunters. ”

“ In skinning the beaver, rip the skin from the point of the chin to the vent and around the base of the tail and cut off the feet, but do not rip the skin of the legs. Skin the animal perfectly clean using the knife everywhere, as it is almost impossible to flesh a beaver after skinning. Not a particle of flesh or fat should be allowed to remain on the skin. ”

“ Good Baits always serve the double purpose. While the trap without bait, arouses the animal's suspicion and makes it cautious, The trap with the bait arouses the animal's passion and draws it to the trap. Certain odors causes the male to think that a female has frequented the place, and he gets careless and is caught. ”

“ The best and most enduring hold a trap can have on an animal is the paw or just above where it joins the bottom of the leg. I have found this with beaver, foxes, marten, lynx, bear, and in fact all animals I have caught. Just above and the paw itself is a mass of sinews and muscle enveloped with a stronger skin than any part of the leg, and therefore must give more resistance. I have found a fox that was caught in a No. 2 Newhouse after three nights' struggle as secure as if newly seized. The jaws having closed securely across the thick part of the forepaw. ”

“ Beaver spend much time dressing their fur and bathing, as they are harassed by lice and other parasites. At rare intervals they are afflicted with disease. They live from twelve to fifteen years and sometimes longer. Man is the worst enemy of the beaver.
A thousand trappers unite to tell the same pitiable tale of a trapped beaver’s last moments. If the animal has not succeeded in drowning himself or tearing off a foot and escaping, the trapper smashes the beaver’s head with his hatchet. ”

“ For a trapper today to try to extract his bait from the animal would be sheer folly. only the unsuccessful ever resort to such a process. Let every man who catches fur bearing animals for a living learn among the earliest lessons, that he must resort to some kind of bait ”

“ Loud and terrified bellowing is not uncommon, switching of the tail, drivelling of saliva, and exceptionally 277there are attempts to bite. More commonly the natural weapons of offense are employed, the animal kicks, stamps, paws and, above all, tries to gore man or beast, but especially any dog which may appear. They even make such attacks on purely imaginary beings and without any real, tangible enemy present. ”

“ The beaver is a timid animal; the least noise, therefore, made about its haunt will keep it from coming out for nights together; and noise is unavoidable when the party is large. But when the party is small, the hunter has a chance of being more or less successful. Indeed, were the nature of the ground such as to admit of the trappers moving about in safety, at all times, and alone, six men, with six traps each, would, in the same space of time, and at the same rate, kill81 as many beavers—say 4,716—as the whole seventy-five could be expected to do! ”

“ The wolverine sometimes lies around beaver ponds and maybe once in a while catches one, but wolverines [Pg 68] are pretty scarce, and I don't think they get many. I believe that the animal that gets more beaver than any other is the lynx. They are small, to be sure, but they are mighty quick, and they have got those long claws, and they can jump on a beaver and cut him up pretty badly before he can get hold of them. I have often seen places where beaver had been killed, and I know it was done by lynxes; that is, by bob-cats, and also by the big gray lynxes. ”

“ In carrying the mud and sticks to the water, the beaver walks, it would seem, upon his hind legs, and in placing and working them together, he generally also assumes the upright attitude. The massive tail, by acting as a base or fulcrum, on which the animal can lean back, enables it to do this with the greatest ease. ”

“ It will, perhaps, be sufficient to consider the main questions of the extraordinary intelligence exhibited by the animal, and the possibility of its preservation from the total destruction with which the species is now threatened. So far as the most careful modern 313observation shows, there is but one claim which has been seriously made for the beaver’s sagacity which is matter for doubt. It has been asserted that the animal always cuts the trees it selects, so that they may fall towards the water. ”

“ The beavers, on the other hand, are not only social by dwelling near each other, but by joining in a work which is intended for the benefit of the community.” As everyone knows, the beaver is an aquatic animal, as is sufficiently indicated by his appearance. He has a dense, woolly coat, which, as in the case of the otter and the still more water-loving seals, is protected by an outer covering of long, smooth hairs, which are of a reddish brown colour. ”

“ To trap the beaver successfully, requires the utmost caution, as the senses of the animal are so keen, and he is so sagacious withal, that he will detect the recent presence of the trapper from the slightest evidences. ”

“ At the same instant, father pulled the trigger. But the panther landed almost on top of the beaver's back, while the shot must have grazed his head, making him rage furiously.
"The beaver, who was on the verge of the stream, fought valiantly with teeth and his powerful strength, but the lion had the upper hold on him. Slowly the two squirmed and rolled, the beaver trying to drag his enemy into the stream, and the panther fighting to keep his prey on land. ”

“ Still when they are beset and bitten by dogs, they can defend themselves very well, and do great injury to a common dog, when they take hold of the same with their foreteeth; but as to their attacking men with violence, it is erroneous. I have seen and conversed with hundreds of beaver hunters, but have never known more than one who had been bitten by a beaver in his shoulder and received a bad wound. ”

“ The toes of the forefeet are not webbed, as are those of the hind ones, nor do they aid in swimming, being then pressed against the body, but are used more as hands, at least for the purposes of architecture. With them the beaver scoops up the mud, and holding it between them or pressed against his throat, walks upright to his dam like a little mannikin in a brown fur coat. It used to be thought that the broad, naked tail served the beaver as a trowel, for the laying and plastering of the mud. ”

“ But here’s one or two wrinkles more killin’ yet. An’ moreover, if ye trap a beaver on land ye’re like to lose him one way or another. He’s got so much purchase, on land, with things to git hold on to; he’s jest as like as not to twist his leg clean off, an’ git away. If it’s one of his fore legs, which is small an’ slight, ye know, he’s most sure to twist it off. An’ sometimes he’ll do the trick even with a hind leg. I’ve caught lots of beaver as had lost a fore leg, an’ didn’t seem none the worse. The fur’d growed over it, an’ they was slick an’ hearty. ”

“ A prolonged death-struggle with the beaver would probably rob the trapper of half his fingers. Very [Pg 116] often the little beavers with poor fur are let go. If the dog attempts to capture the frightened runaways by catching at the conspicuous appendage to the rear, that dog is likely to emerge from the struggle minus a tail, while the beaver runs off with two.
Trappers have curious experiences with beaver kittens which they take home as pets. When young they are as easily domesticated as a cat, and become a nuisance with their love of fondling. ”

“ The beaver is an amphibious rodent whose natural environment is a pond or a sluggish stream. An industrious home body, operating on a self-imposed economy, he hews trees and builds protecting dams and apartment houses in which he cohabits with [Pg 35] other beavers, all under a system of government much like man’s.
Physically, the beaver is distinguished by his thick coat of soft fur, his hard, incisor-like teeth with which he can cut through the stoutest oak, his palmated hind feet and his horizontally-flattened, scaly tail. ”

“ The chicks remain in the nest until fully fledged, and display extraordinary cleverness in making their way among the reeds.
Little comes amiss to the bittern in the way of food, so long as it is of an animal nature; and its appetite is so great, that it is on the hunt for prey from sunrise till sunset. Water-rats, field-mice, birds of all kinds, fish, especially those inhabiting muddy water, snakes, lizards, leeches, worms, and insects and their larvæ are alike devoured by these voracious birds. ”

“ To prevent the weaker members of the community from being preyed upon by innumerable vultures, it was needful that there should be an animal of prey stronger than the rest, commissioned to keep them down. But as the king of the vultures would be no less bent upon preying on the flock than any of the minor harpies, it was indispensable to be in a perpetual attitude of defence against his beak and claws. ”

“ Such hermits are happy fellows, lucky above the majority of beavers, who have no sunlit playground in winter; but they enjoy themselves circumspectly, knowing the danger of being caught in the open. At the slightest alarm, the faint click of snowshoes or a breath of your scent drifting downwind, every beaver disappears under the ice, giving the danger signal by slapping his broad tail on the water as he goes down; and when you hear them again they will be creeping into the living room of the lodge. Rap the roof sharply, after approaching on silent feet, and you hear plop! plop! plop! ”