278 LAKES AND STREAMS 



as near the shore as possible. While some lodges or chambers have but one 

 entrance, others possess two. If there be only one entrance, this leads straight to 

 the water, so that it opens from below into the lodge beneath the surface. The 

 principal entrance is longer or shorter, according to its distance from the water, 

 and in many cases is more than 30 feet long. There is also a subterranean 

 passage running from the floor to the place where the beaver gets the wood 

 required for food and the construction or repairing of the lodge. When this 

 corridor opens into the forest, it is generally entirely covered with wood, 

 which is partly pulled into the hole, partly left to lie loosely on the top. 



The settlement is always in a place where the conveyance of wood is con- 

 venient, and where at the same time there is communication with the water. 

 It may be regarded as a habitation for old beavers and their young of the last 

 two years, and as a home for the female before giving birth to her young. As 

 the safety of the lodge is endangered by floods and ice, and by beasts-of-prey 

 and other enemies, and the old and young males separate from the females while 

 they are with young, the beavers build so-called bank-lodges or burrows, which 

 generally begin with a passage, have a pool for bathing in the middle, and end in 

 a dry and somewhat lofty chamber for resting. Where the ground is not solid 

 enough to prevent its falling in, the beaver supports the roof by wooden posts, 

 and where part of the shore has given way, the hole is roofed in the same way as 

 the principal lodge. If the bank-lodge, as sometimes happens, has a special outlet 

 to the land for the better conveyance of food, it is covered with wooden sticks in 

 the same way as the shore-outlets of the principal lodge. In short, the bank-lodges 

 are of the same construction as the others. This accounts for the fact that male 

 beavers, having had enough of the family lodge or being no more welcome there, 

 retire to these bank-lodges and make them their only and constant dwelling-place. 

 Sometimes whole families have to hive in these habitations, especially when the 

 construction of a lodge is connected with great difficulties, or the strength of the 

 family is insufficient for the work. 



In Germany the beaver is only found in these bank-lodges, and generally 

 lives alone, or in families, never in large colonies. The lodge is situated on the 

 banks or among the shady islands of the Elbe, or in lakes and ponds near by in 

 places least exposed to the danger of inundation. If the entrance of the main 

 passage lies under water, nothing betrays the existence of the burrow, unless the 

 water is low, when the entrance-holes can be seen ; but, besides the main entrance, 

 there are three or four other holes at different heights under water, serving for 

 escape in case of danger ; and close to the main lodge there are generally several 

 smaller ones. In districts where it is not absolutely safe, the beaver never 

 makes the entrance-holes so that they show from the outside ; and when they are 

 laid open by the sinking of the water, it moves to another place, or carefully 

 covers the entrance with dry twigs. The main gallery leads from the shore 

 upwards on a curve for some yards. It usually ends close beneath the grass in a 

 domed chamber, the floor of which is lined with grass, moss, and reeds, and very 

 often contains the remains of a beaver's meal, pieces of barked wood, shavings, etc. 

 The entrance of air is only possible through the thin covering of grass lying above 

 the entrance-hole, especially in burrows where the entrance is under water. In some 



