live alone, although occasionally they build 
very large lodges, and such lodges are clearly 
intended for the use of more than one family. 
There are cases, too, where a family of beav¬ 
ers lives year after year in a dugout, and it 
is probable that the one on the old canal had 
once been so used. It was, however, for sev¬ 
eral reasons no longer a suitable home. In 
the first place, the canal on which it was situ¬ 
ated led into a portion of the woods that no 
longer contained many trees of a sort useful 
as beaver food. 
Because of this fact, the Patou colony had 
not bothered to clean out that canal in recent 
years. Therefore, the dirt washed in from its 
banks had gradually raised the floor of the 
canal, until it was in some places, almost above 
water. Thus, any beaver who crossed one of 
these places, was exposed to attack. Further¬ 
more, he had the inconvenience of carrying, 
instead of pushing, his food stick. 
The dugout was also defective in another 
way. Some years earlier, a wind storm, in pass¬ 
ing through that part of the woods, had up¬ 
rooted a dead tree; and in its fall, the tree had 
thrust the broken stub of a branch through 
the roof of the little cave. At the time, this 
had done no particular harm, as the branch 
plugged fairly well the hole which it had made. 
But the passing seasons, with their rains and 
60 
