248 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



when the river runs low. The main entrance is invariably 

 placed at the end of the submerged portion, but another 

 outlet may be made on shore beyond the lodge itself, and 

 is then generally covered with a layer of twigs, or twigs 

 and earth. As a rule, the lodges are isolated, although a 

 couple may be built in contact. Seen from a distance^ the 

 lodge looks like a confused pile of timber and earth with- 

 out any definite arrangement. The logs employed are 

 usually from a couple of feet to a yard in length, although 

 they may sometimes be double this size ; twigs are also 

 largely used, and sometimes take root and develop into 

 saplings on the roofs. Stones are but seldom employed. 

 Many of the logs are stripped of their bark, but others are 

 built in just as they are felled ; and not infrequently drift 

 logs of pine and other trees which are men-felled are 

 annexed. The logs and twigs are thrown together pell- 

 mell, and the interstices tightly rammed with earth, the 

 thickness of the walls being about a couple of feet. The 

 passage leading from the submerged edge of the lodge to 

 the central dwelling-chamber is usually single, and about 

 twenty inches in diameter, its interior, when in clayey soil, 

 becoming worn perfectly smooth. 



A double lodge opened in 1895 is described by Mr. Collett 

 as follows : " The left or short lodge contained an unoccu- 

 pied chamber without lining. The right, which was long 

 and of considerable age, extended for some way under an 

 oak coppice. The chamber in this was situated about six 

 yards from the water, half a yard underground, and con- 

 sisted of an enlargement of the passage to about three- 

 quarters of a yard in height." It was thickly lined with 

 the under-bark of the aspen. 



Ice-floes and floating timber do much damage to the 

 lodges, and thus entail an annual repair, which, as already 



