Page:Handbook for Boys.djvu/157

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136
Boy Scouts

above the size of a common deer; that is, a full grown male weighs two hundred and fifty to three hundred rounds; the female a third less.

It is famous for its wonderful power as a rock climber and mountaineer. It is found in the higher Rockies, chiefly above timber lines, from central Idaho to Alaska.

Woodchuck
(Marmota raonax)

The common woodchuck is a grizzly brown on the back, chestnut on the breast, blackish on the crown and paws, and whitish on the cheeks. Its short ears and bushy tail are important characteristics. It measures about twenty-four inches of which the tail is five

and a half inches and weighs five to ten pounds.

It is found in all the wooded parts of Canada from the Rockies to the Atlantic and south in the eastern states to about 40 degrees latitude.

Beaver
(Castor canadensis)

The beaver is known by its from twenty-five to fifty pounds— great size — weighing its chestnut color, darker on the crown, its webbed feet, and its broad, flat, naked, scaly tail.

The plet of this animal is a valuable fur. The creature is famous for building dams and digging canals. It was found wherever there was water and timber in North America north of Mexico, but is now exterminated in most highly set fled regions.

Muskrat
(Fiber zibethicus)

The muskrat is about the size of a cat; that is, it is twenty-one inches long, of which the tail is ten inches. In color it somewhat resembles the beaver, but its feet are.not conspicuously webbed, its tail is long and flattened vertically, not