460 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



A second use for the canals is pointed out by Morgan. 

 He found them cut across the neck of long points on the 

 river, and even across long islands in the pond, "for the obvious 

 purpose of saving distance in going around. "^^ 



In brief, then, these canals are among the most wonder- 

 ful of all the Beaver's wonderful undertakings. They are 

 the obvious result of a plan adhered to from the beginning. 

 They are made at a cost of enormous labour extending 

 over years, and are kept in repair only by unremitting atten- 

 tion and toil. 



They are unquestionably made for the convenience of 

 reaching the feeding-ground without a dangerous overland 

 journey and to assist in the transportation of the heavier sticks 

 used when storing winter food. That is to say, the canals 

 are made for precisely the same reason as those made by 

 man, for the easy transportation of passengers and freight. 



BURROWS The Beaver burrow or den is an older institution probably 

 than either the lodge or the dam. It is made in a bank near 

 deep water, and is very simple in plan; it has a single entrance, 

 which is below water line under some tree, root, or over- 

 hanging bank; it has a diameter of a foot or eighteen inches, 

 a length of a dozen feet, and leads to a chamber just above 

 the water line under a root or stump or clump of bushes, 

 which strengthens and guards the roof, that is here made thin 

 enough to admit air. 



A good typical example is shown (Fig. 132, p. 462); this 

 is the uppermost burrow seen on b, Fig. 131. 



BANK In streams which have always plenty of water, and which 



therefore need not and indeed cannot be dammed, the Beaver 

 elaborates the bank den or 'wash'" somewhat. On the 

 Yellowstone, Morgan saw a number of these in 1862. *'The 

 entrances or passageways often extend back twenty feet into 

 the bank and each communicates with one or more under- 



" Ibid., p. 202. 



** "Wash," a corruption of the Ojibwa O-wazhe', Am. Beaver, p. 165. 



BEAVER 



