26 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 



must be wet, as his only entrance is through the 

 water. It is obvious therefore that on emerging 

 from the water they must dry themselves off very 

 thoroughly before going near their beds or nests. 

 The fact of their making these beds on a higher level 

 shows that they use their intelligence and under- 

 stand that water does not run uphill. If the 

 bedding should get wet frequently it would be but 

 a short time before it decayed, especially as there 

 is not a superabundance of air in the houses. For- 

 tunately the beaver has low respiration and conse- 

 sequently needs very little ventilation in his home. 

 On this account he can keep warm, and even 

 during the cold winter weather, when the tempera- 

 ture of the outside air is perhaps thirty or forty 

 degrees below zero, the animal heat generated by 

 the beaver is sufficient to keep the house com- 

 fortable. This warmth and the lack of light and 

 air has the disadvantage of causing troublesome 

 parasites to thrive, much to the annoyance of the 

 thickly-furred animals, and probably accounts for 

 their so frequently using shredded wood for bedding. 

 Softer material could be found, but it is doubtful 

 whether it would be sanitary. 



The size of the material used on the outside of 

 the lodges is most variable. As already stated, in 

 some instances no sticks of appreciable size are to 

 be found on the lodges. Then, again, regular logs 

 or heavy poles are seen on the lodges. But logs 

 or poles (whichever you like to call them, and it is 



