160 THE AMERICAN" BEAVER. 



one externally by the process of repairing in the man- 

 ner previously stated. Two or three thus situated 

 relatively are occasionally seen in the Lake Superior 

 region. A Rocky Mountain trapper informed me that 

 he had opened a lodge, upon one of the tributaries of 

 the Missouri, which contained four chambers, each 

 communicating with the other, and with the pond, 

 and in one of which he found a quantity of cuttings 

 stored for winter use. The other statement with ref- 

 erence to lodges with two chambers, one above the 

 other, appears to be without foundation. As a general 

 rule, the lodge has a single chamber, and where two 

 or more are placed side by side, there is no connec- 

 tion between them. 



In addition to the lodge, the same beavers, who in- 

 habit it, have burrows in the banks surrounding the 

 pond. They never risk their personal safety upon 

 the lodge alone, which, being conspicuous to their 

 enemies, is liable to attack. These burrows are the 

 ultimate places of refuge to which they are more apt 

 to retire than to their lodges, when disturbed on the 

 land. Along their canals, also, the burrows are nu- 

 merous, since while in their narrow channels they are 

 more exposed than while in the ponds. These bur- 

 rows are small underground chambers. They are en- 

 tered by a passage-way, usually under the roots of a 

 tree standing in the edge of a pond, which, wdth the 

 chamber, are from ten to fifteen feet in length. As 

 the entrances are always below the surface level of 

 the pond, there are no external indications to mark 

 the site of a burrow except one, and that occasional 

 only, which will be hereafter noticed. A description 

 of two or three of these burrows, with diagrams and 

 measurements, will illustrate their character. 



