120 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
these new pairs, delighting in their freedom and 
independence, went away to some new part of the 
country and began housekeeping according to their 
own ideas. They were mated for life and there- 
fore it was only right that they should select some 
place which would allow the starting of a new 
colony, with ample room for expansion. Their 
decision was wise, for had they remained the pond 
would have been somewhat overcrowded, and that 
is quite contrary to the rules and regulations of 
beaverdom. Everything is regulated from the 
point of food supply, and so according to the 
resources of the neighbourhood must the growing 
of a colony be limited. The young pair that 
remained decided to build their lodge on the little 
island on which the original one was placed, but a 
dividing ditch was cut so that each lodge was on 
its own individual island. The older pair of 
visitors, not considering it wise to encroach too 
much on the hospitality of their new friends, made 
a pond for themselves by damming the smaller 
stream that flowed into the lake and which had 
originally joined the main stream. In their newly 
made pond they arranged to build a lodge on a 
point of land which they severed from the shore 
by cutting a broad channel. This seemed an 
almost unnecessary waste of labour if it was 
intended as a means of protection, for any animal 
large enough to be regarded as an enemy could 
easily jump across. It might, however, prevent 
