144 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 



continues their supply of air, but also reveals their 

 habitation to the trapper. 



The entrances to a beaver lodge, of which there 

 are usually two, and sometimes more, are the most 

 remarkable parts of the structure. They are made 

 with great skill, and in the most artistic manner. In 

 new lodges there is generally but one, but others are 

 added with their increase in size under the process of 

 repairing, until, in large lodges, there are sometimes 

 three and four. These entrances are of two kinds. 

 One is straight, or as nearly so as possible, with its 

 floor, which is of course under water, an inclined 

 plane, rising gradually from the bottom of the pond 

 into the chamber; while the other is abrupt in its 

 descent, and often sinuous in its course. The first 

 we shall call the "wood entrance," from its evident 

 design to facilitate the admission into the chamber of 

 their " wood cuttings," upon which they subsist during 

 the season of winter. These cuttings, as will else- 

 where be shown, are of such size and length that 

 such an entrance is absolutely necessary for their free 

 admission into the lodge. The other, which we shall 

 call the "beaver entrance," was the ordinary run-way 

 for their exit and return. It is usually abrupt, and 

 often winding. In the lodge under consideration, the 

 wood entrance descended " from the outer rim of the 

 chamber outward about ten feet to the bottom of the 

 pond in a straight line, and upon an inclined plane ; 

 while the other, emerging from the rim of the 

 chamber at the side, descended quite abruptly to the 

 bottom of the moat or trench, through which the 

 beavers must pass, in open water, out into the pond. 

 Both entrances were rudely arched over with a roof 



