210 Tue Aroostook Woops. 

the stream in the vicinity of, and upon the top of the house 
now being repaired perhaps, and showing fresh black mud, 
may be seen the cane like sticks of new wood from which 
they have eaten the bark, now showing at a long distance, 
brightly in the sunshine. This gives them entirely away, for 
although they are careful to be in hiding themselves at the 
least unusual sound, these bright, newly peeled sticks notify 
the trapper of their return from their summer cruisings, to fix 
up their habitations for winter. . 
Their rooms, or nests, nicely lined with grass, are well 
above the water from below, and yet beyond danger of freez- 
ing from the outside. Close to the nest, below, is their 
passage down to the water, which is never allowed to freeze 
but little, even if likely to, which it is not. The many sticks 
heing crossed in every manner, support the heavy mass above 
(their roof) from falling in upon them. Their home is well 
built to keep out the cold, and the warmth of their fat bodies 
while in the nest keep up the temperature. Then with the 
colder weather comes the snow, covering all during the winter, 
with the wind drifting an extra share upon their house, so 
that at times you can scarcely tell where their dwellings are. 
And here, when snoozing in their cosy home in the centre of 
of their house below the cold, they have what they want, a 
warm, dry nest while they are sleeping, and a dry chance 
above all wet from below. Snug quarters for such hardy 
fellows after all. And upon the outside while boreas holds 
high carnival, they are each curled up like a huge football, 
their broad, flat tails flipped around to one side of them between 
their bodies and the open passage to the water, partly, at 
least, protecting one side of them from the (not very cold) air 
from the water below. This knowledge of them was gained 
