52 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



much for a robin, and she raised such an ado 

 concerning a concealed monster that other 

 birds came to join in the hubbub and to help 

 drive me away. But I did not move, and after 

 two or three minutes of riot the birds took them- 

 selves off to their respective nesting-sites. 



Presently a brown nose appeared between 

 the house and my hiding place. As a mother 

 beaver climbed upon one of the spruce logs thrust 

 out of the water, her reflection in the water min- 

 gled with spruces and the white clouds in the blue 

 field above. She commenced to dress her fur 

 to make her toilet. After preliminary scratch- 

 ing and clawing with a hind foot, she rose and 

 combed with foreclaws; a part of the time 

 with both forepaws at once. Occasionally she 

 scratched with the double nail on the second 

 toe of the hind foot. It is only by persistent 

 bathing, combing, and cleaning that beavers 

 resist the numerous parasites which thick fur 

 and stuffy, crowded houses encourage. 



A few mornings later the baby beavers ap- 

 peared. The mother attracted my attention 

 with some make-believe repairs on the farther 

 end of the dam, and the five youngsters 

 emerged from the house through the water and 

 squatted on the side of the house before I saw 

 them. For a minute all sat motionless. By and 

 by one climbed out on a projecting stick and 



