FOOD AND TREE CUTTING 123 
there. The animals did not mind spectators and came out of 
the water and went up the opposite hillside to gather food. 
Wild rose bushes, which grew in profusion, seemed to be 
especial favorites, and a beaver would be seen cutting these, 
seemingly taking hold of the end of each, as fast as cut, with 
its mouth, until it had accumulated as many as it could 
hold. Then it would waddle down the hill dragging the mass 
of green beside it, this often looking as large as the beaver 
itself. Little aspens, a foot or two high, were cut and carried 
in the same manner. 
Once in the water the food is transported by holding with 
the teeth and letting it float beside the animal as it swims 
to the foodpile, on reaching which it dives down and forces 
its load into the stuff already there. Then it will remain 
until it absorbs enough water to stay down even though 
it may become disentangled. Such food as the rose bushes 
or small aspens was either eaten on shore, occasionally in 
shallow water, or taken into the lodge. 
The logs are not always taken away as soon as cut, though 
the branches and limbs may be disposed of very soon. 
The beaver does not always see the need of hurry, or of work- 
ing all the time, and logs may be seen lying on the ground 
for some time after felling, and then removed gradually as 
needed, or at least in time for storage. Mills mentions two 
colonies in the Longs Peak region not far apart which had 
somewhat different methods of working. In one colony it 
was the custom to move the felled trees promptly to the 
storage pile, while in the other most of the harvest was cut 
down before the moving began. I have seen both of these 
colonies and could see nothing about their respective situa- 
tions which might account for this. Possibly one or both 
have changed their methods in the years which have elapsed 
since Mills made his observations, perhaps adopting modern 
ideas of efficiency. 
