THE BEAVERS OF NORTH AMERICA 7 
.come forth with safety. Three small heads soon 
appeared on the surface of the water near the 
house and soon another and larger one. She was 
the mother of the three, and she was satisfied that 
her husband had sufficiently well examined the 
immediate vicinity. So without wasting time she 
and her youngsters proceeded each to their 
particular choice of shrub or tree and ate what 
they wanted. 
It was in the month of October, the busiest 
month in the beavers’ year. The cold nights 
warned them of the approaching winter. The 
glistening white frost which covered the grass each | 
night with its myriad crystals and the thin sheets 
of “ window-pane” ice which bordered the pond 
were the forerunners of the cold that would come 
later. The terrible, relentless cold which held all 
that northern country in its icy embrace, which 
made the ponds resemble solid land and subdued 
the most turbulent streams by converting them 
into irregular masses of snow-covered ice ; the cold , 
which so often for months at a time held the 
beavers prisoners in their houses, free only to roam / 
in the pond beneath the shadow of the impenetrable 
ice; the pitiless cold which spreads famine among 
the dwellers of the northern woods so that hunger- 
bred courage, and the cunning persistence which * 
comes from necessity, renders the wolves and 
gluttons a source of danger to all beavers, especially 
to those who are not well-housed. Therefore, in 
