RESULTS OF BEAVERS’ WORK 167 
the arrival of cold weather all building operation 
must cease as the mud freezes and of course 
becomes too hard to work. The house or lodge, as 
it is more properly named, is outwardly a great 
mass of loose sticks, some of which might from 
their size be called logs, filled in with earth and 
roots and covered over with mud. In the centre very 
little mud is used, for there is a sort of irregular 
chimney, which serves as a ventilator. Inside the 
house all is darkness or very nearly so, The walls 
are rough, but the floor, which is raised a few 
inches above the water, is firm and smooth, made 
of fine twigs beaten into the earth. The entrances, 
for there are usually two or more, are several feet 
beneath the water. What impressed me on seeing 
the lodge and dams built by the beavers in the 
Washington Zoo was the fact that in no way 
did they differ from those in the most remote part 
of Canada. 
When spring came it was found that the beavers 
had increased in numbers, very much to the delight 
of all concerned, but the following year, when they 
were all full grown, the rules and regulations of 
beaverdom were put in force. They decided that 
there was one too many, and according to their 
laws he must either betake himself to some other 
locality or submit to an untimely death. Now, 
the victim chosen—whether by ballot or by what- 
ever means who can say ‘—was our old friend, and 
as it was impossible for him to leave the colony of 
