464 



Life-histories of Northern Animals 



straight, is for bringing in wood. They are 2 or 3 feet below 

 water level on the outside, but open above water line inside — 

 they are i| to 2 feet wide and 5 to 10 feet long. They are 

 finished with mud, which is plastered smooth like the doorway 

 of an adobe house. The floor is about 4 inches above water 

 level, and covered with a solidified mass of mud and small 



Fig. 135 — The largest chip I saw at the Yancey Ponds (life size) ; many were 6 by i inch, but most were shorter. 



twigs. There is more or less dry grass or wood shavings for 

 bedding. The only air is what comes through the walls or is 

 accidentally brought in the fur of the inhabitants or incident- 

 ally in their lungs. 



FOOD 



FELLING 

 TREES 



Closely connected with the building Instinct is the food 

 Instinct of this animal. Its favourite diet in Canada is the 

 bark of the poplar or quaking aspen, but It also eats the young 

 bark and twigs of most of the hardwoods and in summer they 

 add many kinds of vegetation, even berries, pond-lily roots, 

 and marsh grass, and in winter the wood Itself; but never is 

 known to eat any part of coniferous trees, although It cuts 

 them down for building material.^® 



The cutting down of trees is one of the most amazing 

 performances of the Beavers, so of course it has been much 

 exaggerated In early accounts. Thus the statement that the 



2« lUd., p. 184. 



