264 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 
ber of animals in the lodges. The lafeer 
lodges are, in the interior, about seven feet 
in diameter, and between two and three feet 
high, resembling a great oven. They are 
placed near the edge of the water, although 
actually built on or in the ground. In front, 
the beavers scratch away the mud to secure 
a depth of water that will enable them to 
sink their wood deep enough to prevent its 
‘being impacted in the ice when the dam is 
frozen over, and also to allow them always’ 
free egress ‘from their lodges, so that they 
may go to the dam and repair it if neces-* 
sary. The top of the lodge is formed by 
placing branches of trees matted with mud, 
grasses, moss, etc., together, until the whole 
fabric measures on the outside from twelve 
to twenty feet in diameter, and is six or 
eight feet high, the .size depending on the 
number of inhabitants. The outward coating 
is entirely of mud or earth, and smoothed off 
as if plastered with a trowel. As beavers, 
however, never work in the day-time, no per- 
son, we believe, has yet seen how they perform 
their task, or give this hard-finish to their 
houses. This species does not use its fore-feet 
in swimming, but for carrying burdens: this 
can be observed by watching the young ones, 
which suffer their fore-feet to drag by the side 
