5 66 



THE BEAVER. 



are about three feet in length, and vary extremely in thickness. Generally they are about 

 six or seven inches in diameter, but they have been known to measure no less than 

 eighteen inches In diameter. An almost incredible number of these logs are required for 

 the completion of one dam, as may be supposed from the fact that a single dam will 

 sometimes be three hundred yards in length, ten or twelve feet thick at the bottom, and 

 of a height varying according to the depths of water. 



Before employing the logs in this structure, the Beavers take care to separate the bark, 

 which they carry away, and lay up for a winter store of food. 



Near the dams are built the Beaver-houses, or " lodges," as they are termed ; edifices 

 as remarkable in their way as that which has just been mentioned. They are chiefly 

 composed of branches, moss, and mud, and will accommodate five or six Beavers together, 

 The form of an ordinary sized Beaver's lodge is circular, and its cavity is about seven 

 feet in diameter by three feet in height. The walls of this structure are extremely thick, 



BEAVER.-Castor Fiber. 



so that the external measurement of the same lodges will be fifteen or twenty feet in 

 diameter, and seven or eight feet' in height. The roofs are all finished off with a thick 

 layer of mud, laid on with marvellous smoothness, and carefully renewed every year. As 

 this compost of mud, moss, and branches is congealed into a solid mass by the severe 

 frosts of a North American winter, it forms a very sufficient defence against the attacks 

 of the Beaver's great enemy the wolverene, and cannot readily be broken through, even 

 with the help of iron tools. The precise manner in which the Beavers perform their 

 various tasks is not easy to discern, as the animals work only in the dark. 



Around the lodges the Beavers excavate a rather large ditch, too deep to be entirely 

 frozen, and into this ditch the various lodges open, so that the inhabitants can pass in 

 or out without hindrance. This precaution is the more necessary, as they are poor 

 pedestrians, and never travel by land as long as they can swim by water. Each lodge is 

 inhabited by a small number of Beavers, whose beds are arranged against the wall, each 

 bed being separate, and the centre of the chamber being left unoccupied. 



In order to secure a store of winter food, the Beavers take a vast number of small 

 logs, and carefully fastens them under water in the close vicinity of their lodges. When 

 a Beaver feels hungry, he dives to the store heap, drags out a suitable log, carries it to a 

 sheltered and dry spot, nibbles the bark away, and then either permits the stripped log 

 to float down the stream, or applies it to the dam. 



