(Cofonj) 



n 



closed beneath the ice, and might thus be helpful 

 to the beaver inclosed in house and pond. In 

 only a few cases were these holes made from ponds 

 which had subway tunnels, tunnels which run 

 from alongside the house through the bottom of 

 the pond to a point above water-level on the shore. 

 In a few instances the beaver, I do not know how 

 many, came out of this hole, cut and ate a few 

 twigs, and then returned and closed it. Twice this 

 was used as a way out by beaver who emerged 

 and went to other colonies. In one case the 

 beaver entered the other pond by making a hole 

 through the dam. In the other they entered the 

 pond through a subway tunnel. While these holes 

 which lower the pond-level may have chiefly to 

 do with ventilation, or may be for the purpose of 

 putting a check on freezing, my evidence is not 

 ample enough for final conclusions. 



A sentence of close confinement for about a 

 third of the year for an animal that breathes air 

 and uses pure water, is simply one of the strange 

 ways that work out with nature. While winter 

 lasts, a beaver must spend his time either in the 

 dark, ill-ventilated house or in the water of the 

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