(Cofonp in 



ward the food-pile with his hands against his 

 breast. At the pile, if there was nothing small or 

 short enough, he set to work and gnawed it off. 

 The piece secured was taken into the doorway 

 either in his hands or in his teeth. Afterward a 

 beaver the same one, I suppose came out 

 of the doorway, and cast the clean bone of the 

 stick, from which the bark had been eaten, into 

 the bottom of the pond. 



When there is nothing else to do, the beaver 

 apparently comes into the pond a few times each 

 day for a swim. In the midst of swimming he 

 rises at times to the under surface of the ice and, 

 with his nose against it, exhales a quantity of air. 

 After remaining with nose at this point a few 

 seconds, the action of the air bubbles indicates 

 that he is inhaling the purified air. 



The rootstocks of the water-lily are sometimes 

 dug from the bottom of the pond. At other times 

 the beaver eats the stalks of plants that grow in 

 the water, or digs out willow or other roots around 

 the edge of the pond. Numbers of trout frequently 

 lie in the water close to the doorway of a beaver 

 house or around the food-pile. Possibly the beaver 



205 



