42 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



the most marked and widely spread change in North 

 American landscape directly due to animal agency, 

 remaining permanent after the authors of it have 

 been almost entirely destroyed, is to be seen in the 

 " beaver meadows." These are found scattered over 

 the whole of the continent north of New York and 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, and are referred to in 

 ordinary business terms, as when, for example, such 

 land is put up for sale. The beaver meadows were 

 made in two ways. Some were formed above the 

 gradually silted-up "dams," which the beavers made 

 wider every year, but could not build up vertically 

 beyond a certain point. The other beaver meadows 

 were originally flat forest by the side of the streams 

 on which the beavers lived. They cut down every 

 tree on these flats to build their dams or to feed on 

 the bark, and often cut canals across the ground. 

 They also cleared away all small timber and bushes 

 between the stumps, that they might roll the " logs " 

 to the water. Then deer came and regularly fed on 

 these clearings, keeping the grass fine, and thus the 

 beaver meadow was formed. 



Another change due to the agency of animals is 

 seen in the water-pools of the Kalahari Desert. These 

 in most cases owe their shape in great measure to the 

 use made of them by the larger animals, once so 

 numerous in that region. During the rains, the game 

 scattered over the whole country. But in the dry 

 season, when the only water available was found in 

 these pools, the elephants, rhinoceroses, and other 

 large game, by constantly wallowing in them and 



