THE LIFE OF A BEAVER COLONY 121 
tunnels being made ‘from the land which would 
allow of access to the interior of the lodge. 
During the summer, the beavers wandered about 
the country and were seldom much at home, but 
towards the middle of August they returned for 
good, and slowly did what work was necessary in 
the way of building and repairing dams and lodges. 
The older pair of visitors kept pretty well to their 
own pond, building their dams and lodge without 
assistance from the rest of the colony, who had 
quite enough to do to attend to their own needs. 
When wood harvesting began, the two families in 
the larger pond made a single wood-pile which 
would serve them both. With eleven mouths to 
feed it was necessary that the store should be even 
larger than on the previous year. Most of the 
harvesting was obtained from the aspen grove at 
the head of the canal, and the number of trees cut 
was past all belief. The woods resembled the 
scene of serious logging operations as carried on by 
men. Paths were cut intersecting the whole knoll 
and everything was most orderly ; each stump was 
a triumph in the art of wood-cutting, clean and 
smooth as though cut by an experienced lumber- 
man. No waste was to be found anywhere. 
Every trunk whose bark was in proper condition 
was neatly , divided into convenient-sized sections 
and removed to the wood-pile, not even a twig 
was left. Besides the aspens, the beaver occasion- 
ally undertook the more laborious task of cutting 
