the family, remaining apart for some weeks. 
In the case of meat-eating animals, this is 
easy to understand; the mother fears that the 
father will destroy the young to satisfy his 
own appetite. Beavers, however, eat only 
vegetable matter. Hence, Father Beaver had 
offered no resistance, when his mate had made 
plain to him that his absence was requested, 
but had gone quietly to join those others who 
had received like hints from their mates. 
This absence of the males of the colony 
from their home lodges left the mothers with 
the full care of the young. But, since these 
lived entirely upon milk for their first few 
weeks, that care was no great burden. All 
that the mother had to do was to provide 
herself with sufficient food, a task made easy 
by the pile of brush and sticks, which lay 
under water only a few yards from her door. 
Nor did their absence leave Father Beaver 
and his two friends, Shovel-Tail and Chisel- 
Tooth, to a life of idleness. No, indeed; they 
had plenty to do, for, since they had turned 
over to the mothers what was left of the 
winter’s supplies, they had to forage for their 
food. They dived deep down into the pond 
for the potato-like lily roots, swam to the dam 
for young willow shoots, and even journeyed 
inland a short way to dine on the inner bark 
of poplar saplings. 
18 
