THE BEAVER. 131 



times on the banks of these artificial ponds, at others by the 

 sides of large lakes or rivers. Though varying in size, they 

 all greatly resemble a huge bird's-nest turned upside down. 

 Some are eight feet in diameter, and three feet in height ; 

 while others are very much larger, being no less than sixteen 

 to twenty feet in diameter, and nearly eight feet in height on 

 the outside, and perfectly circular and dome-shaped. The 

 walls and roofs of these lodges, as they are called, are several 

 feet in thickness, so that the measurement of the interior 

 chamber is little more than half that of the exterior. Several 

 beavers inhabit a large lodge. Their beds, which are sepa- 

 rated one from the other, are arranged round the walls, a 

 space in the centre being left free. The exterior also presents 

 a very rough appearance, consisting of sticks apparently 

 thrown loosely together, and entirely denuded of their bark, 

 as also of branches of trees and bushes closely interwoven and 

 mixed with stones, gravel, or mud. They are close to the 

 banks, almost overlapping the water, into which the front 

 part is immersed. The bottom of the stream or lake is 

 invariably deepened in the channel approaching the entrance, 

 thus ensuring a free passage below the ice into the structure. 

 The tunnel is from two to three feet long. In the inner part 

 of the hut the materials are laid with greater care, and more 

 firmly bound together — with mud and grass — than on the outer. 

 Even in one of the larger houses the chamber — for there is but 

 one — is only between two and three feet in height, though as 

 much as nine feet in diameter. It slopes gently upwards from 

 the water. Inside there are two levels : the lower one may 

 be called the hall. On this the animals shake themselves 

 when they emerge from the subaqueous tunnel ; and when dry, 

 clamber up to the upper story, which consists of an elevated 



