SOME TIMBER CUTTERS 101 
duced at a birth. They live at home for two years. 
Then there are a number of beaver weddings, 
and each young couple strikes out for an unoccu¬ 
pied part of the woodland and founds a new 
colony. Their first labor is to dig a burrow in 
the bank, starting from an entrance at the bottom 
of the stream. Here they make their home for a 
few years, until the increase in numbers gives 
extra hands for more pretentious building; then 
the old burrow serves for a variety of purposes, 
not the least being for a refuge in time of danger. 
Occasionally an old ‘ bach ’ is found living glum 
and morose away off by himself! 
“ Beavers are close kin to the squirrels, and, 
like them, sit upon their haunches a great deal, 
holding their food in their fore-paws and other¬ 
wise using these ‘ hands ’ very dexterously. 
The food of the beaver is the bark of trees, roots, 
and water plants. In summer they eat plenti¬ 
fully of berries, leaves and water-lilies. When 
tamed and cared for by man, they like bread and 
milk, sugar, fruits and rice, and are said to be 
very fond of plum pudding. In the fall they lay 
up stores for winter by cutting a number of green 
branches and sinking them in the water in their 
‘ dooryard,’ weighting them down firmly by 
piling stones on the heap. Whenever a beaver 
feels the pangs of hunger in midwinter, he goes 
to the storeheap and drags out enough ‘ greens ’ 
