216 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



were 30 inches or less. It is possible, of course, that these young 

 were not allowed out of the lodge when people were about. They 

 were certainly well able to take care of themselves when they did 

 appear. 



The beaver we watched were quite playful at times, at least the 

 yearlings ; and I also saw the kits play together once, but I spoiled 

 the little game with the noise of a graflex shutter, and it ceased 

 suddenly with a great splash. The game seemed to be to push each 

 other about in the water. This appeared to be by placing cheeks and 

 shoulders together, and pushing, and perhaps pulling, for they may 

 have been holding with the forepaws. In any event two once rolled 

 clear over in the water without losing their grip. My assistant said 

 they made a noise like a young kitten, only sharper. Others have 

 likened the voice of a beaver to that of a young puppy. 



A beaver is undoubtedly at home in the water, even though its 

 gait on land is a very awkward waddle. The hind feet alone are 

 used in swimming, the tail not at all, except at times as a rudder. 

 It is remarkable how quietly they can submerge and swim under 

 water. One afternoon at the group of ponds by the Cooke City road 

 a beaver was in shallow water eating some willow twigs it had cut. 

 I was attempting to get into a position where I could get a picture, 

 and was standing on some poles over the water. My movements dis- 

 turbed the animal and it disappeared ; but after an interval I saw it 

 floating on the other side, watching me. To get to this place it had 

 to pass under the poles on which I stood, and yet I had seen no indi- 

 cation of the passage. It went back and forth several times, always 

 without detection. 



During the summer a fishing party saw a beaver swim the Yellow- 

 stone in the canyon about half a mile below Elk Creek. It was 

 working upstream and crossed several times. Whenever it came to 

 very swift or rough water it dove and swam under water, coming 

 to the surface again in a smooth place. It landed so close to a boy 

 in the party that he laid a fishing rod over its back. 



Beavers have a habit of occasionally making little piles of mud, 

 round and flattened, and depositing their castoreum on them. This 

 seems to serve in some way as a means of communication with other 

 beavers. I found one such on upper Lost Creek when making my 

 examination of that group of dams (figure 68). It was quite fresh 

 when found, and must have been made one or two nights preceding, 

 for we had been there just previously. It was a trifle more than a 

 foot in diameter, and about four inches thick. 



