CHAPTER V. 



The Family of Baby Beavers — The Beaver Kitten — Summer Wander- 

 ings — The Colony Reassembles — Work on the Dam and Lodges — 

 Providing Supplies for the Winter — Winter Experiences. 



With the melting of the snow and the disappearance of ice from 

 the lakes and ponds, the family of baby beavers are first introduced 

 to the wonders of narure which surround them. Earlier than this, 

 they can only remember the warm nest in the dark lodge, where, 

 like all other little babies, they were fed on milk. But now they 

 are strong enough to toddle about, and they are taken for a swim in 

 the pond, and allowed to crawl upon the banks. The young family 

 usually consists of three or four, and a happy time they have play- 

 ing in the water and roaming about the banks in search of dainty 

 green shrubs. It is not long, however, before the^- are led up the 

 stream to another pond, and still higher up to others, where fresh 

 delights await them in the increasing variety of fruits and plants. 

 As the time wears on the weather gets warmer, and their bed is a 

 tuft of soft grass exposed to the silvery light of the moon, from it 

 they plunge to the cool depths of the great lakes for refreshing baths, 

 while the woods afford an endless assortment of luxuries on which 

 the beavers fatten. There is no work to be done and life is a round 

 of pleasure ; for dreams of the hunters are unknown to the little ones, 

 nor do the old ones dread them at this season. Thus the summer 

 passes and the little beavers now grown to kittenhood think of the 

 cosy lodge down the stream, for the nights are chilly. Soon a start 

 is made, and after a long journey the familiar neighbourhood is 

 reached. Caution is now most necessary, and the young ones learn 

 the cunning ways of the trapper, who sets great store on a fat 

 " Ah-wa-nesha," as the Indians call the beaver kitten, for perhaps 

 some of the happ)' babies who splashed in the quiet old pond have 



