THE LIFE OF A BEAVER COLONY 101 
swims near the bottom. At first I used to believe 
they were young beaver, but that idea was soon 
dissipated by the little fellows coming up close to 
where I lay concealed, when I could identify them 
without any doubt. 
By the middle of November the lodge in which 
our pair of beaver lived was completely finished. It 
was smooth and tidy, with scarcely any sticks 
showing, nothing but mud, and roots, and a small 
amount of grass and sod used as an outside 
plastering. About this time the pond froze over 
completely except above the spring to which allusion 
has already been made. Only on very cold nights 
was there sometimes a thin layer of ice over this part, 
but even this usually melted during the day time. 
As winter settled down on the country, the beaver 
were seldom seen out of doors. Occasionally on a 
particularly warm sunny evening, one would come 
out through the spring hole and take a look over 
the house. But there was no work to be done, so 
the beaver resigned themselves to the long season 
of rest and inactivity, welcome, perhaps, after their 
two months or more of really arduous labour. 
One day was much like another. Having nothing 
better to do, they slept most of the time, coming 
out only for an occasional swim in the ice-covered 
pond or to get some twigs from the wood pile. 
These they would cut off in convenient lengths, 
take into the house and eat the bark. This done, 
the peeled stick would be carried out and left 
