BEAVERS. io i 



longer, and move about much less than at other times. In the winter, in America 

 at all events, they swim about beneath the ice, dragging up water-lily roots for 

 food and feasting upon the store of branches they have accumulated in the deep 

 pools during the winter ; and it is for the purpose of securing a sufficient depth of 

 water in which to swim beneath the ice that they construct their well-known 

 flams. Most of the beavers still remaining in the rivers of the Old World live in 

 burrows in the banks, without constructing either dams or lodges. The colony 

 near Magdeburg, alluded to above, are known, however, to have undertaken both 

 these engineering works ; and it is hence probable that European beavers were 

 originally similar as regards their habits to their American cousins, but that 

 through their reduced numbers and the constant persecution which they have 

 undergone, the building propensity has been lost. 



In America beavers generally select as their haunts a well-timbered district 

 traversed by a narrow stream : and by felling the trees on the banks, and forming 

 with the aid of their trunks and boughs a dam and lodges across the stream, the 

 water is headed back so as to form a large lake or pool. In some cases a series of 

 such dams and pools may be seen one above another in tin' course of tin- stream. 

 It is believed that the original object of tree-felling is to obtain a supply (if Food 

 for winter; and that the employment of the peeled trunks and branches for the 

 construction of the dam ami lodges is a secondary development. The beaver 



fells the trees it requires by gnawing through their stems with its sharp I' I 



teeth at a short distance above tin' ground; the stem being generally gnawed 

 nearly equally all round till the tree falls with its own weight. As trees on a ri\ er 

 bank generaby incline towards the water, tiny usually fall in the required direction. 

 Sometimes, however, the animals miscalculate, and trees which tiny have felled 

 may be seen caught in the forks of neighbouring stems. The trees selected for 

 felling are usually from five to eight or nine inches in diameter, but occasionally 

 trunks of as much as eighteen across are successfully attacked. The beaver 

 goes to work in a thoroughly scientific manner, gnawing out very large chips, 

 which are sometimes as much as nine inches in length. When the trees are felled, 

 they are stripped of their boughs, and the trunks cut into lengths of five or six feet, 

 which, after being barked, are rolled into the stream or pond, and employed in the 

 construction of the dam and lodge s. 



The term "lodge," it maybe explained, is applied in America to the abodes 

 constructed by these animals in the water of their ponds. It is now generally 

 accepted that the lodge is nothing more than an extreme development of the burrows 

 or " wash " in the banks. On this subject Mr. Martin writes as follows : " Starting 

 with the simple burrow, the next step is the accumulation of logs and branches 

 about its entrance, forming what is called a ' bank-lodge.' In places where the 

 water is shallow towards the shore, a great advantage would be derived from ex- 

 tending this artificial covering of brushwood, so that in time a natural evolution 

 of the lodge disconnected entirely from the shore would take place, and form an 

 independent and very convenient refuge from landward enemies." The lodge con- 

 tains a large internal chamber, lined with grass, and is entered by several 

 approaches beneath the surface of the water. The construction of the lodge is, 

 however, of a much less elaborate nature than has often been stated to be the case. 



