134 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 
in the aspen grove gnawing away at a seven- 
inch aspen. This was nearly cut off. In giv- 
ing the finishing bites he tiptoed, edged around 
the stump this way, then that. When it began 
to crack and settle he started toward the canal. 
He caught a small piece of aspen in his teeth, 
dragged this down into the canal and left it, 
and swam on down to the house. 
In the water-filled basin at the end of the 
canal apparently the fresh cuttings were col- 
lected and later transferred by water to their 
place of deposit in the pond. These aspen 
chunks were from five to eight feet long, were 
parts of small aspen tree trunks freshly cut off 
at each end. 
Down in the pond, floating above the depos- 
ited pile, were numbers of aspen limbs and tops. 
The bark of these as well as of the larger cuttings 
was to serve as winter food for the beavers. 
Beavers do not eat meat or fish, but chiefly 
bark, with a little of roots, mushrooms, lily 
bulbs, and berries. Yet several times during 
the past year I read of beaver catching fish— 
out of season, too. 
This old beaver frequently appeared, first 
at one place and then at another. Each time, 
too, in daylight. He did not seem afraid. But 
the other beavers were not seen except about 
sundown, or in the twilight. This old beaver 
