across a small water-hole, and from this taken up 

 the steep slope of a ridge, then down to a point 

 about one hundred feet from the pond. Between 

 this place and the pond was a deep wreckage of 

 fire-killed and fallen spruces. To cut an avenue 

 through these was too great a task for the beav- 

 ers ; so with much labor they dug a canal beneath 

 the wide heap of wreckage, and through this, 

 beneath the gigantic fallen trees, the harvested 

 aspens were dragged and piled in the pond for 

 winter food. The gathering of these harvests, 

 even by beavers, must have been almost a hope- 

 less task. In going thus far from water many of 

 the harvesters were exposed to their enemies, and 

 it is probable that many beavers lost their lives. 

 Beavers become strongly attached to localities 

 and especially to their homes. It is difficult to 

 drive them away from these, but the exhaustion 

 of the food-supply sometimes compels an entire 

 colony to abandon the old home-site, migrate, 

 and found a new colony. Some of the beavers' 

 most audacious engineering works are under- 

 taken for the purpose of maintaining the food- 

 supply of the colony. It occasionally happens 



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