OF WILD ANIMALS 43 



He builds dams both great and small, to provide water in 

 which to live, to store food and to escape from his enemies. 

 He builds air-tight houses of sticks and mud, either as islands, 

 or on the shore. When he cannot live as a pond-beaver with 

 a house he cheerfully becomes a river-beaver. He lives in a 

 river-bank burrow when house-building in a pond is impos- 

 sible; and he wiU cheerfully tunnel under a stone wall from 

 one-pond monotony, to go exploring outside. 



He cuts down trees, both small and large, and he makes 

 them fall as he wishes them to fall. He trims off all branches, 

 and leaves no "slash" to cumber the ground. He buries green 

 branches, in great quantity, in the mud at the bottom of his 

 pond, so that in winter he can get at them under a foot of 

 solid ice. He digs canals, of any length he pleases, to float 

 logs and billets of wood from hinterland to pond. 



If you are locating beavers in your own zoo, and are wise, 

 you can induce beavers to build their dam where you wish it 

 to be. This is how we did it! 



We dug out a pond of mud in order that the beavers might 

 have a pond of water; and we wished the beavers to build a 

 dam forty feet long, at a point about thirty feet from the iron 

 fence where the brook ran out. On thinking it over we con- 

 cluded that we could manage it by showing the animals where 

 we wished them to go to work. 



We set a 12-inch plank on its edge, all the way across the 

 dam site, and pegged it down. Above it the water soon formed 

 a little pool and began to flow over the top edge in a very minia- 

 ture waterfall. Then we turned loose four beavers and left 

 them. 



The next morning we found a cart-load of sticks and fresh 

 mud placed like a dam against the iron fence. In beaver 

 language this said to us: 



"We would rather build our dam here, — ^if you don't mind. 

 It will be easier for us, and quicker." 



We removed all their material; and in our language that 

 action said: 



