52 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 
much for a robin, and she raised such an ado 
concerning a concealed monster that other 
birds came to join in the hubbub and to help 
drive me away. But I did not move, and after 
two or three minutes of riot the birds took them- 
selves off to their respective nesting-sites. 
Presently a brown nose appeared between 
the house and my hiding place. As a mother 
beaver climbed upon one of the spruce logs thrust 
out of the water, her reflection in the water min- 
gled with spruces and the white clouds in the blue 
field above. She commenced to dress her fur 
—to make her toilet. After preliminary scratch- 
ing and clawing with a hind foot, she rose and 
combed with foreclaws; a part of the time 
with both forepaws at once. Occasionally she 
scratched with the double nail on the second 
toe of the hind foot. It is only by persistent 
bathing, combing and cleaning that beavers 
resist the numerous parasites which thick fur 
and stuffy, crowded houses encourage. 
A few mornings later the baby beavers ap- 
peared. The mother attracted my attention 
with some make-believe repairs on the farther 
end of the dam, and the five youngsters 
emerged from the house through the water and 
squatted on the side of the house before I saw 
them. Fora minute all sat motionless. By and 
by one climbed out on a projecting stick and 
