Beaver 463 



leaving the chamber dangerously exposed, and then the Beaver 

 is seen, with true constructive ingenuity, repairing the ventila- 

 tor with a pile of interlacing sticks. 



Then, as Morgan remarks:-^ "It is but a step from such 

 a surface pile of sticks to a lodge with its chamber above 

 ground, with the previous burrow as its entrance from the 

 pond." A case which is precisely paralleled by the bank house 

 of the Muskrat. 



The next step is the bank lodge, which has a complete bank 

 ing of sticks around. I 

 shown in Figs. 133 and 134.^' 



roofing of sticks around. Plans of two good examples are 



From the bank lodge the step is easy to the island lodge, 

 and when the island is a mere upturned root or hummock, we 

 reach the final and most specialized dwelling of the Beaver, 

 the moated lodge in the pond. 



The great pond in the Lost Creek Series at Yancey's, 

 Yellowstone Park, contained but one lodge; this was enormous. 

 It looked 25 feet through and 5 feet high, but having no boat 

 I could make no measurements. It is usual for Beavers 

 to have several burrows as well as a lodge, but one side of 

 this pond was rock, the other side level marsh, so these may 

 have had no burrows, at least I saw no signs of them. 



A typical lodge is a rounded mass of sticks, and occasion- lodge 

 ally stones; it is 20 feet across the base and 3 to 5 feet high, 

 cemented with mud except on the outside, which is covered 

 with naked sticks. 



It contains one circular chamber, which is about 2 feet 

 high and 6 feet across. As a rule the lodge has a single cham- 

 ber, and when two or more are found side by side there is no 

 connection between them. They are, indeed, separate lodges 

 accidentally touching. 



There are usually two entrances, rarely more; one abrupt, 

 often winding, is the ordinary runway; and the other, quite 

 " Ibid., p. 165. ^ Ibid., 153. 



