THE BEAVER 



221 



JAWS OF THE BEAVER. 



in gnawing through the trunks of trees six or seven or as 

 many as eighteen inches in diameter. Trees on river-banks 

 usually lean towards the water, and consequently they 

 fall in the right direction. 

 A tree is stripped of its 

 branches and is then cut 

 into logs from three to six 

 feet in length, which are 

 conveyed to the bed of the 

 stream, and with the 

 branches, stones, and mud 

 are built up into a dam. 

 Sometimes a dam is two 

 hundred yards long, from 

 ten to twelve feet in thick- 

 ness at the bottom, narrowing to about two feet at the 

 top. The dam is either straight or curved, as called for by 

 peculiarities in the bed of the stream. 



Within the pool thus formed the Beavers build ' lodges,' 

 somewhat dome-shaped houses, of branches, moss, and 

 mud, each large enough to afford accommodation for five 

 or six animals. The lodges, of which there are sometimes 

 as many as thirty in a ' village/ are connected with the 

 bank by burrows, the entrances to which are always under 

 water. There are two reasons for this precaution it is 

 a protection from the wolverene, which dislikes water 

 as much as a cat ; and it enables the Beaver to reach or 



leave its retreat, 

 to gain access to 

 food, when the river 

 is frozen over to a 

 depth of three feet 

 or more. 



The mud roof of 

 a lodge is repaired 

 or renewed every 

 year. The plaster- 

 ing is done with the fore feet, and not with the tail as 

 is so often stated. The Beaver only uses its hind legs in 

 swimming, and the tail is simply a rudder, particularly 



TAIL OF THE BEAVER. 



