RESULTS OF BEAVERS' WORK 167 



the arrival of cold weather all building operation 

 must cease as the mud freezes and of course 

 becomes too hard to work. The house or lodge, as 

 it is more properly named, is outwardly a great 

 mass of loose sticks, some of which might from 

 their size be called logs, filled in with earth and 

 roots and covered over with mud. In the centre very 

 little mud is used, for there is a sort of irregular 

 chimney, which serves as a ventilator. Inside the 

 house all is darkness or very nearly so. The walls 

 are rough, but the floor, which is raised a few 

 inches above the water, is firm and smooth, made 

 of fine twigs beaten into the earth. The entrances, 

 for there are usually two or more, are several feet 

 beneath the water. What impressed me on seeing 

 the lodge and dams built by the beavers in the 

 Washington Zoo was the fact that in no way 

 did they differ from those in the most remote part 

 of Canada. 



When spring came it was found that the beavers 

 had increased in numbers, very much to the dehght 

 of all concerned, but the following year, when they 

 were all full grown, the rules and regulations of 

 beaverdom were put in force. They decided that 

 there was one too many, and according to their 

 laws he must either betake himself to some other 

 locality or submit to an untimely death. Now, 

 the victim chosen — whether by ballot or by what- 

 ever means who can say ? — was our old friend, and 

 as it was impossible for him to leave the colony of 



