THE LURE OF THE BEAVER 



605 



A BAD NEIGHBOR OF THE BEAVER 



The lynx is frequently found along the water side where beavers are 

 active. He is one of their worst enemies, but can catch them only in 

 the open, as their houses are lynx proof. 



I had casually observed a few beaver colonies in 

 the wilds of Northeastern Minnesota, in Northern Wis- 

 consin and in the Itasca Forest Reserve, and so at- 

 tractive did I find their habits, that one summer I 

 devoted over a month exclusively to studying them in 

 the Itasca Reserve; but the difficulties I encountered 

 in trying to secure new and reliable information were 

 at times quite baffling. 



My first attempt was made at a dam and pond in 

 a dense cedar swamp. In company with two friends 



I made a small break in their dam and staid near the 

 break all night. Early in the evening we suffered not 

 a little from mosquitoes, and in the morning from cold 

 and dampness. Several times we heard a beaver 

 plunge and slap the water with his broad tail, and 

 once he almost spattered water on our blankets, but 

 the break in the dam was not repaired. At sunrise, 

 three shivering and bedraggled naturalists were long- 

 ingly looking forward to a fire and hot coffee and they 

 had learned that beavers will not work when they 

 know they are being watched. 



A MUSKRAT HOUSE 



This is a cross section showing the interior chamber and entrance under 

 water or ice. The boy has his left hand in the entrance to this domicile. 



NEIGHBOR PORCUPINE 



The well known but carefully avoided porcupine is one of the neighbors 

 of the beaver, although that does not prove that they have much in com- 

 mon, except a fondness for the same locality. 



My next attempt was made on a large pond which 

 the beavers had created by building a dam across a 

 small creek in a mof-e open valley. Here I built against 

 the trunk of a large balsam fir a platform twenty feet 

 above the ground. Two afternoons and evenings I 

 spent alone, on that platform after having made a break 

 in the darnj. On both occasions I saw a beaver swim- 

 ming about in the pond as if he were scouting for the 

 cause of the trouble. He was not alarmed and neither 

 saw nor scented me, but he never left the pond and did 

 not repair the dam. When it grew too dark to see 

 anything, I left for my camp two miles away. On 

 both occasions the break was repaired during .the 

 night. About the number of beavers living in this 

 pond I had been able to make no direct observations. 



Having been disappointed at this pond, I selected 

 a beaver house on the shore of a small lake and direct- 

 ly below a high bank. This seemed a most favorable 

 locality. I intended to observe the beavers from be- 

 hind some bushes on the high bank ; the house was 

 built in the open and was exposed to the west, making 

 the conditions of light very favorable. It was only 



