82 Ways of Wood Folk. 



heart of the beaver goes back to his home ; and pres- 

 ently he follows his heart. September finds them 

 gathered about the old dam again, the older heads 

 filled with plans of repair and new houses and winter 

 food and many other things. The grown-up males 

 have brought their mates back to the old home; the 

 females have found their places in other family groups. 

 It is then that the beaver begins to be busy. 



His first concern is for a stout dam across the 

 stream that will give him a good-sized pond and 

 plenty of deep water. To understand this, one must 

 remember that the beaver intends to shut himself in 

 a kind of prison all winter. He knows well that he 

 is not safe on land a moment after the snow falls; 

 that some prowling lucivee or wolverine would find 

 his tracks and follow him, and that his escape to 

 water would be cut off by thick ice. So he plans a 

 big claw-proof house with no entrance save a tunnel 

 in the middle, which leads through the bank to the 

 bottom of his artificial pond. Once this is frozen 

 over, he cannot get out till the spring sun sets him 

 free. But he likes a big pond, that he may exercise 

 a bit under water when he comes down for his dinner; 

 and a deep pond, that he may feel sure the hardest 

 winter will never freeze down to his doorway and shut 

 him in. Still more important, the beaver's food is 

 stored on the bottom ; and it would never do to trust 



