142 THE BEAVER 
animal was swimming in the pond almost directly below 
where I stood on the bank several feet above and I made an 
exposure with a graflex camera. The noise of the shutter 
startled the beaver, which ordinarily would have dived. 
Unfortunately for it, however, the water was very shallow 
and several fallen trees intervened between the place and 
deeper water. Over these logs the beaver loped and gal- 
loped with a great splashing until it reached a place where it 
could get beneath the surface. The negative obtained 
showed with what quickness a beaver can get into motion, 
for the shutter had been set for a very short exposure in 
order to allow for the movement in swimming, but the nega- 
tive shows a rather unrecognizable blur, and the position 
of the animal shows that it began to jump the very instant 
the shutter was released, certainly quick response to an alarm. 
