FOOD AND TREE CUTTING 131 
In the Longs Peak region I found in two different ponds 
on the same stream dead lodgepole pines some of the roots 
of which had recently been cut off by beavers, and some 
of them quite close to the trunk. At one of the ponds a 
piece of a root was floating in the water by the tree. I saw 
no indications as to what use, if any, had been made of the 
portions cut off. I also saw a pine in Tower Creek the 
ends of the roots of which had been cut off in this way. 
We have little information as to how far away from 
the water a beaver will go in order to cut trees. The great- 
est distance which I have found was at Lily Lake, Estes 
Park. Here trees had been felled more than four hundred 
feet from the shore and dragged down the hill to the water. 
At Crescent Hill, Yellowstone Park, trees had been cut 
two hundred and twenty feet from the pond, but there were 
no aspens growing farther away, and never had been. 
Vernon Bailey says ‘‘trees have been cut as far back as 
ten or twelve rods from the shore, but track, trace, or 
trail of beaver is rarely if ever found farther from water.” 
Italics mine. 
In summer beavers seem to make grass a portion of their 
food. I have seen grass floating in ponds where there was 
no indication of muskrats, and have sometimes seen where 
it had been cut on shore. In the Yellowstone I saw beavers 
carrying grass in their mouths dive down into the lodge, 
where it may have been eaten or used for bedding. Observ- 
ers in other places mention seeing where grass had been cut 
along shore. It is evident the animals use a goodly variety 
of food during the summer, perhaps as a relief from the 
enforced monotony of the winter diet of bark. 
In connection with beavers eating grass Taylor speaks of 
what he calls ‘‘grass beaver.’’ These lived where there was 
little or no brush and fed on grass, and were never as large 
and sleek looking as those living on bark. 
