NATURE GUIDING AT HOME 227 



The animals and birds had fights, feasts, and 

 plays. I saw many of these wild-life exhibitions 

 real movies. By going frequently to this 

 lake I often saw the beaver inhabitants and I 

 learned a number of lively facts concerning 

 many species of birds and animals. 



So interesting was this place that for many 

 years I went to it during every season of the 

 year, and by moonlight as well as by daylight. 

 Early one morning I saw a beaver with an un- 

 usually flat back come climbing up out of Wind 

 River Canon with several other beavers follow- 

 ing him. I named him Flattop, and during the 

 eighteen years that followed I occasionally saw 

 him in or by the lake. A number of times I 

 watched him and other beavers cutting trees 

 and dragging them into the lake. 



One windy winter day big ice cakes smashed 

 the beaver house and a number of its inhabitants 

 went down to the beaver colony in Wind River 

 Canon. Three of these were killed on the way, 

 as fur and blood on the snow plainly showed. 



One rainy day while I was hidden and watch- 

 ing Flattop cut down a large aspen, a number of 

 mountain sheep came into the scene. The ram 

 leading saw Flattop and walked toward him 

 pretending he was going to butt. Flattop 

 stopped gnawing on the aspen and stood watch- 

 ing the ram, without a move. The ram smelled 



