of 



by land and water to the harvest piles. One 

 tree on the shore of the pond which was felled 

 into the water was eight inches in diameter and 

 fifteen feet high. Without having even a limb 

 cut off, it was floated to the nearest harvest pile. 

 Another, about the same size, which was pro- 

 cured some fifty feet from the water, was cut into 

 four sections and its branches removed ; then a 

 single beaver would take a branch in his teeth, 

 drag it to the water, and swim with it to a har- 

 vest pile. But four beavers united to transport 

 the largest section to the water. They pushed 

 with fore paws, with breasts, and with hips. 

 Plainly it was too heavy for them. They paused. 

 "Now they will go for help," I said to myself, 

 "and I shall find out who the boss is." But to 

 my astonishment one of them began to gnaw 

 the piece in two, and two more began to clear a 

 narrow way to the water, while the fourth set 

 himself to cutting down another aspen. Good 

 roads and open waterways are the rule, and 

 perhaps the necessary rule, of beaver colo- 

 nies. 



I was impatient to have a close view of a 

 24 



