210 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 
stumps suggested that prehistoric beavers— 
large as bears—had reappeared on earth. 
At last cold, ice, snow, and enemies com- 
pletely stopped the beavers’ harvest gathering. 
The food provided for the colony’s winter supply 
was less than one half that needed. But the 
beavers had done their best, and come what 
may, they would alertly, stoically meet it. 
These colonists had a hard winter. I visited 
them a number of times. Now and then snow 
covered the frozen pond, but usually the wind in 
sweeping down the open-stream avenue through 
the woods left the ice clear. One day, looking 
through the clear ice of the pond, I counted 
six beavers, but on most occasions I was able 
to see only one or two. The population of this 
colony probably numbered twelve or fifteen. 
The upper part of the area flooded by their 
pond had been a semi-swampy tract bearing 
thick growths of water-loving plants. The roots 
of sedge, bulbs of lilies, tubers of many plants, 
and long juicy roots of willow and alder were 
made use of by these beavers facing a food- 
shortage. 
I supposed it was only a question of time be- 
fore they would be shut off by the thick ice from 
this root supply. But they dug a deep water- 
way—a canal about two feet wide and nearly 
as deep—from the house in the centre of the 
