now went off on his annual exploring 

 trip, but he took with him the four 

 older children, while the mother and the 

 babies remained behind. As usual, the 

 house was deserted during the summer 

 months. We now noted several bur- 

 rows under the bank at widely separate 

 places along shore. Sometimes the 

 beaver would be seen entering one of 

 these holes and again another. 



It is interesting and easy, to study 

 the habits of wild creatures, and to note 

 how uniform are their methods and 

 practices. It is not so easy to determine 

 reasons for their peculiar way of doing 

 things. It is of course permissible to 

 speculate, but one might be expected 

 to furnish proof, when an assertion . is 

 made. For example, it has been stated 

 by at least two writers, that beaver 

 desert their homes in summer so that 

 the vermin which infest their huts may 

 die off from starvation during the ab- 

 sence of their fur coated hosts. 



My own guess, if I were to hazard 



35 



