A FLOATING NEST. 181 



Belected for their dam. The trees are cut down by 

 gnawing all around the trunk with the large, chisel- 

 shaped teeth of the animal, and gradually deepening 

 the cut until the tree stands upon quite a slender por- 

 tion of its substance — the trunk above and below 

 assuming the form of an hourglass, or two cones 

 united at their slenderest part. The smaller saplings 

 and the branches of the larger ones are, when the trees 

 fall, cut into lengths of five or six feet, which after 

 the bark has been eaten off are employed in strength- 

 ening their dam or building their lodges. The lodge 

 is oven-shaped ; its walls are very thick, made of mud, 

 strengthened with sticks of every size and shape. It 

 is from six to eight feet in height, and measures from 

 twelve to twenty feet in diameter. It contains a 

 chamber sometimes seven feet across and between 

 two and three feet high ; the floors of this apartment 

 are covered with dried grass, chips, and the soft bark 

 of trees, that form a bed for its occupants. The dams 

 built by beavers are sometimes four hundred and fifty 

 or even six hundred feet in length. 



A FLOATING NEST. 



"Wet, cold, and unclean-looking, a mass of rotting 

 weeds that appear to have casually floated together, 

 as objects in still water have a tendency to do, such is 

 the nest of the crested grebe, certainly the most un- 

 comfortable-looking nest in the world. It may be in 

 one place in the morning, and blown away over the 



