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this enforced journey. While traveling along 

 the almost dry bed of the stream and at a point 

 where the water was too shallow to allow them 

 to dive and escape, two, and probably three, of 

 their number were captured by coyotes. The 

 survivors found a deep hole in a large channel, 

 and here they hurriedly accumulated a scanty 

 supply of green aspen. As winter came on, they 

 dug a burrow in the bank. This had a passage- 

 way which opened into the water about two 

 feet below the surface and close to their food- 

 supply. 



The Cascade colonists held on for the winter. 

 Their pond was deep, and their careful repair 

 of the dam had enabled them to retain water 

 to the very top of it. However, beaver cannot 

 long endure water that is stagnant. This is 

 especially true in winter-time. A beaver house 

 is almost without ventilation, but its entrance 

 ways are full of water; the fresh water of the 

 pond appears to absorb impurities from the air 

 of the house. Apparently stagnant water will 

 not do this. Then, too, a stagnant pond freezes 

 much more rapidly than the waters of a pond 



253 



