THE LIFE OF A BEAVER COLONY 101 



swims near the bottom. At first I used to believe 

 they were young beaver, but that idea was soon 

 dissipated by the little fellows coming up close to 

 where I lay concealed, when I could identify them 

 without any doubt. 



By the middle of November the lodge in which 

 our pair of beaver lived was completely finished. It 

 was smooth and tidy, with scarcely any sticks 

 showing, nothing but mud, and roots, and a small 

 amount of grass and sod used as an outside 

 plastering. About this time the pond froze over 

 completely except above the spring to which allusion 

 has already been made. Only on very cold nights 

 was there sometimes a thin layer of ice over this part, 

 but even this usually melted during the day time. 

 As winter settled down on the country, the beaver 

 were seldom seen out of doors. Occasionally on a 

 particularly warm sunny evening, one would come 

 out through the spring hole and take a look over 

 the house. But there was no work to be done, so 

 the beaver resigned themselves to the long season 

 of rest and inactivity, welcome, perhaps, after their 

 two months or more of really arduous labour. 

 One day was much like another. Having nothing 

 better to do, they slept most of the time, coming 

 out only for an occasional swim in the ice-covered 

 pond or to get some twigs from the wood pile. 

 These they would cut off in convenient lengths, 

 take into the house and eat the bark. This done, 

 the peeled stick would be carried out and left 



