3 



from the bottom of the pond up through the 

 foundation, into the irregular space left between 

 the supporting pile of mud and the walls. And 

 of this space they shape a room, by clawing out 

 the temporary support and gnawing off the in- 

 truding sticks. This represents the most highly 

 developed type of beaver house. 



In most houses the temporary support is not 

 used, but a part of the wall is carried up to com- 

 pletion, and against it are leaned sticks, which 

 rest upon the edge of the remaining foundation. 

 A finished house of this kind has a slightly ellip- 

 tical outline. However, many a house is a crude 

 haphazard pile of material in which a room has 

 been burrowed. 



The room is from one to three feet high, and 

 from three to twenty feet across. The room is a 

 kind of a burrow and is without either door or win- 

 dow. Half-buried sticks make a comparatively dry 

 floor, despite the fact that it is only a few inches 

 above water-level. Beaver sleep on the floor, 

 usually with tail bent along the side after the 

 fashion of a dozing cat, in a nest of shredded 

 wood, which they patiently make by thinly split- 



122 



