3 l6 
THE CANADIAN BE A VER 
partly their own building, and partly “ subsidized ” by 
the authorities. That is, it had a roof of corrugated 
iron supported by strong posts at the corners. The 
sides were carefully built up with branches set on end 
by the beavers themselves, and well plastered with 
mud, which they push in with their fore-paws and pat 
down hard. They not only carried the plaster up to 
the “ eaves ” of the house, but patted a quantity of 
mud down on the iron roof, a quite unnecessary 
labour, except on the assumption that there were 
joints in it which require filling. The whole was 
crowned with a pile of branches, wdiich served no 
useful purpose. Last year these beavers dug a canal 
from the stone-rimmed pond to one of the burrows 
running under their house. We were not able to see 
whether it actually joined the pond, or whether the 
rim of stone which divided it from the pool at the 
surface was continued downwards. In any case, they 
had managed to fill the canal with water, and had 
a clear waterway from the house to the edge of the 
pool. They were also busy cutting through a poplar 
stem ; the largest chip of wood lying at its foot 
measured 3J in. Another stump was being carefully 
gnawed into fine sawdust, which was probably intended 
for bedding. 
Since then the beavers have been supplied wdth a fine 
new house cf concrete, which will probably keep out 
their enemies the rats which invaded the old house, 
though it will leave less inducements to the animals 
to go on with their interesting building feats. Yet 
