Wild Animals You May Know * * * 55 



rangers blow it out, or they cut it as often as men repair it, if that 

 happens to be their wish at the time. 



Beaver colonies usually make their homes in the vicinity of aspen 

 groves. They will cut down cottonwoods two feet in diameter, but 

 prefer small trees. Once cut down, the trunks and branches of the 

 smaller trees are cut in sections, from one to three feet long. These 

 are carried over to the beaver house and are "salted down" for the 

 winter. When the beaver family wants breakfast in a hurry of a winter 

 morning, one or more beavers select a log from the pile and take it into 

 the house, and the whole family gathers around for a snack. The beaver 

 holds the stick in his fore paws and gnaws fast and furiously. 



Beavers use various types of construction. They make dams, lodges, 

 burrows, and canals, the latter often enterprises that call for consider 

 able engineering skill. These canals are used to float logs to the house, 

 thus solving the transportation problem for the beavers. The large flat 

 tail of the beaver is popularly supposed to be useful for slapping mud 

 on the house to plaster it, but this is not the case. The tail is the rudder 

 by which Mr. Beaver steers his log and himself to his house, when 

 swimming with a load. He uses it as a rudder and a propeller, too ; he 

 also slaps it on the water to warn other beavers of what he thinks is 

 danger. The beaver is as skilful with his fore paws as is the squirrel. He 

 uses them in much the same way, to hold his food, to build his house, 

 and to dig. His teeth, which seem to grow as he uses them occasion 

 ally so long that he cannot close his mouth, and so dies are useful 

 mainly for gnawing trees in felling them and in cutting them for food 

 and construction purposes. 



"How can I see a beaver ?" 



This question is hard to answer. It takes much patience. The 

 beaver dams are easy to locate in streams or lakes near aspen groves. 

 The little animals are cautious about showing themselves during the 

 daytime, particularly if strangers are about. The best way to see them 

 is to take a location not too near a beaver headquarters and remain 

 perfectly quiet until their activities begin. Generally, some beaver will 

 not be able to restrain his urge to add a new stick to the dam or to put 

 a gable on the house. Or perhaps the engineer beaver will be out in 

 specting things, planning a night's work for the whole construction gang, 

 which incidentally includes the women and children as well as the men 

 of the colony. 



This is good advice if you want to see any of the wild animals or 

 the wild fowls of the parks. The majority of visitors cannot control 

 themselves when they see a deer or a beaver or an elk or other wild life. 

 They rush out in the middle of the colony or herd or flock, as the case 

 may be, and begin snapshooting right and left. The result is that they 



