so Waterfowl. 



which was little more than a tangle of ravines and clefts, 

 with very steep sides rising into sharp hills. The sides of 

 the ravines were quite densely overgrown with underbrush 

 and young trees, and through one or two of them ran, 

 or rather trickled, small streams, but an inch or two in depth, 

 and often less. Directly across one of these ravines, at 

 its narrowest and steepest part, the beaver had built an 

 immense, massive dam, completely stopping the course of 

 a little brooklet. The dam was certainly eight feet high, 

 and strong enough and broad enough to cross on horse- 

 back ; and it had turned back the stream until a large 

 pond, almost a little lake, had been formed by it. This 

 was miles from any other body of water, but, judging 

 from the traces of their work, it had once held a large 

 colony of beavers ; when I saw it they had all been 

 trapped out, and the pond had been deserted for a year 

 and over. Though clumsy on dry ground, and fearing 

 much to be caught upon it, yet beaver can make, if 

 necessary, quite long overland journeys, and that at a 

 speed with which it will give a man trouble to keep up. 



As there are few fish in the plains streams, otters are 

 naturally not at all common, though occasionally we get 

 one. Musk-rats are quite plenty in all the pools of water. 

 Sometimes a little pool out on the prairie will show along 

 its edges numerous traces of animal life ; for, though of 

 small extent, and a long distance from other water, it may 

 be the home of beavers and musk-rats, the breeding-place 

 of different kinds of ducks, and the drinking-place for the 

 denizens of the dry country roundabouts, such as wolves, 

 antelopes, and badgers. 



