beaver realized that the tops of the aspens were en- 

 tangled and interlocked in the limbs of crowding 

 spruces and would not fall if cut off at the bottom. 

 This and one other aspen were the only large 

 ones that were felled, and the tops of these had 

 been recently released by the overturning of some 

 spruces and the breaking of several branches on 

 others. Other scattered large aspens were left 

 uncut, but all of these were clasped in the arms 

 of near-by spruces. 



It was the habit of these colonists to transfer 

 a tree to the harvest pile promptly after cutting 

 it down. But one morning I found logs on slides 

 and in canals, and unfinished work in the grove, 

 as though everything had been suddenly dropped 

 in the night when work was at its height. Coy- 

 otes had howled freely during the night, but this 

 was not uncommon. In going over the grounds 

 I found the explanation of this untidy work in 

 a bear track and numerous wolf tracks, freshly 

 moulded in the muddy places. 



After the bulk of the harvest was gathered, I 

 went one day to the opposite side of the moraine 

 and briefly observed the methods of the Island 



92 



