procured, not only from the tunnel en- 

 trances and from the canal, but excava- 

 tions were made in the river bottom 

 near the house. A pocket was there 

 dug out, about twenty feet in diameter, 

 making the water six feet deep. 



Into this hole the two beavers now 

 proceeded to store their food for the 

 winter. This consisted chiefly of the 

 trunks of poplar saplings, two to six 

 inches in diameter, cut into lengths of 

 four to six feet, the sticks of larger dia- 

 meter being the shorter. In the wood 

 pile were also placed the branches of the 

 same trees. Mixed in with the poplar 

 were some alders and a few birch and 

 soft maple sticks. The birch and alder 

 apparently were used to add spice and 

 tang to the otherwise sameness of their 

 more staple food. 



In the edge of the forest next the 

 slough a few years before, a fire (doubt- 

 less started by some careless hunter), 

 had burned over several acres, and this 

 was now covered by a "second growth" 



23 



