an* 



and liveliest when taking a limb from the hillside 

 to the house in the pond. A young beaver will 

 catch a limb by one end in his teeth, and, throw- 

 ing it over his shoulder in the attitude of a puppy 

 racing with a rope or a rag, make off to the pond. 

 Once in the water, he throws up his head and 

 swims to the house or the dam with the limb 

 held trailing out over his back. 



The typical beaver-house seen in the Rockies 

 at the present time stands in the upper edge of 

 the pond which the beaver-dam has made, near 

 where the brook enters it. Its foundation is 

 about eight feet across, and it stands from five 

 to ten feet in height, a rude cone in form. Most 

 houses are made of sticks and mud, and are ap- 

 parently put up with little thought for the liv- 

 ing-room, which is later dug or gnawed from the 

 interior. The entrance to the house is below 

 water-level, and commonly on the bottom of the 

 lake. Late each autumn, the house is plastered 

 on the outside with mud, and I am inclined to 

 believe that this plaster is not so much to increase 

 the warmth of the house as to give it, when the 

 mud is frozen, a strong protective armor, an armor 



57 



