THE LIFE OF A BEAVER COLONY 99 



material. A little grass was cut and carried in, 

 but grass gets wet and soggy and is not really 

 a serviceable substance. Finely-shredded wood is 

 better. So they cut down a cedar, which is the 

 best of all trees for the purpose, and taking it 

 piece by piece into the lodge tore it into fine 

 shreds and made a deep bed, which was sanitary 

 as well as comfortable. Of course certain parasites 

 would make their home in it and cause the beaver 

 great annoyance, but that could not be avoided. 

 All they could do would be to use the curious 

 split second toe-nail of their hind feet as a comb 

 with which to make their daily toilet and dislodge 

 the intruders. 



As the home was nearing completion the beavers 

 took in a pair of muskrats as uninvited tenants — 

 for, curiously enough, muskrats nearly always 

 make a winter home in the lodge, not living 

 actually in the main room, I believe, but making 

 a small nest for themselves in the wall, the 

 entrance to which is either through an off-shoot 

 of the regular burrows or else one made entirely 

 by themselves. Apparently they do not interfere 

 in any way with the rightful owners of the lodge, 

 unless possibly they steal some of the smaller twigs 

 from the wood-pile, for they too depend to some 

 extent on bark for nourishment, though grass and 

 roots form the greater part of their diet. Some 

 writers maintain that the muskrat, or musquash, 

 is an enemy v/f the beaver, who kill them whenever 



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