e of the road. We find him a creature
of intelligence far above that of his near kinsmen, and endowed with
some extraordinary instincts that guide him in making dams, houses,
etc., that are unparalleled in the animal world. Here are the principal
deliberate constructions of the Beaver: First the lodge. The Beaver was
the original inventor of reinforced concrete. He has used it for a
million years, in the form of mud mixed with sticks and stones, for
building his lodge and dam. The lodge is the home of the family; that
is, it shelters usually one old male, one old female and sundry
offspring. It is commonly fifteen to twenty feet across outside, and
three to five feet high. Within is a chamber about two feet high and six
feet across, well above water and provided with a ventilator through the
roof, also two entering passages under water, one winding for ordinary
traffic, and one straight for carrying in wood, whose bark is a staple
food. This house is kept perfectly tidy, and when the branch is stripped
of all eatable parts, it is taken out and worked into the dam, which is
a crooked bank of mud and sticks across the running stream. It holds the
water so as to moat the Beaver Castle.

[Illustration]

But the canal is one of this animal's most interesting undertakings. It
is strictly a freight canal for bringing in food-logs, and is dug out
across level ground toward the standing timber.

Canals are commonly three or four hundred feet long, about three feet
wide and two feet deep. There was a small but good example at Yancey's
in 1897; it was only seventy feet long. The longest I ever saw was in
the Adirondacks, N. Y.; it was six hundred and fifty-four feet in length
following the curves, two or three feet wide and about two feet deep.

Three other Beaver structures should be noticed. One, the dock or plunge
hole, which is a deep place by a sharply raised bank, both made with
careful manual labour. Next, the sunning place, generally an ant-hill
on which the Beaver lies to enjoy a sun-bath, while the ants pick the
creepers out of his fur. Third, the mud-pie. This is a little patty of
mud mixed with a squeeze of the castor or body-scent glands. It answers
the purpose of a register, letting all who call know that so and so has
recently been here.

The chief food of the Beaver, at least its favourite food, is aspen,
also called quaking asp or poplar; where there are no poplars there are
no Beavers.

THE DAM

Usuall