Mountain Beaver & Jargon & Chehalis & ... ?

[Theresa Kishkan]

I haven't been following this discussion very carefully but in the process
of tidying up my study (I have been finishing a novel and my room looks like
a midden!) I found my copy of The Mammals of British Columbia by Ian
McTaggart Cowan and Charles Guiguet -- one of the Provincial Museum
handbooks. There is an entry for the Mountain Beaver which I'll offer some
extracts from. Aplodontia rufa, with a subspecies, A. rufa rufa. Oh, and
another subspecies, A. rufa rainieri, described as a "weakly characterized
race, larger than rufa." General size of a muskrat (12 inches) but
distinguished by having almost no tail. (Illustration shows forefeet with
formidable claws!) Species lives in humid forests of the south-west coast
where there is an abundance of ground vegetation. Range extends to
timberline. Constructs long complicated burrows, 6 to 8 inches in diameter,
opening to the surface here and there. Comes to surface at night, foraging
close to burrow, drags food back under cover. Animal can climb trees but
does so infrequently.

Nothing about noise. The grouse have been booming in my woods, though, and a
lovesick sapsucker in breeding plumage keeps drumming on the cedar fascia by
our kitchen! I don't know how the females can resist him.

Forgive me if I'm repeating old information.

Theresa
Theresa Kishkan
RR1 Site 20 C11
Madeira Park, B.C.
V0N 2H0
(604)883-2377
Red Laredo Boots (1996); Sisters of Grass (2000); Inishbream (2001)

"What secrets do the hills contain in their suede hollows, what mysteries
are lifted from the stones in the unbearable stillness of morning?"