7 8 WAITING IN THE WILDERNESS 



appendage. It is covered with dark-coloured 

 skin and looks somewhat like a piece of dark 

 rubber. Diver sometimes thrust his tail under 

 him and used it for a seat. Sometimes when 

 standing up he used it for a rear brace to prop 

 himself on his hind legs. In swimming he occa- 

 sionally turned it on edge and used it for an oar. 

 It served in the water as a rudder whenever a 

 rudder was needed. But when out of the water, 

 walking about, it appeared to drag behind him as 

 though attached to him though not a part of him. 

 When he was at rest he commonly tipped his 

 tail on edge, doubled it around, and rested it 

 against his side. On one occasion he thrust his 

 tail between his legs, scooped up a mass of mud 

 and carried it up on a small fallen log near by, and 

 dumped it. On another occasion I saw him 

 carrying two small sticks by clasping them be- 

 tween his tail and his stomach. 



A few days before I gave Diver away I placed 

 him in a beaver pond, then climbed a tree and 

 took a position on a long limb that reached out 

 over the water. I was scarcely in the tree top 

 when a number of beavers resumed the work 

 they had been doing. Three young beav- 

 ers played with Diver in the water. In my 

 eagerness to see what was going on I leaned too 

 far out. The limb broke and I knocked most of 

 the water out of the pond. 



