sion of a beaver's domestic life.

"Don't think they mate at all," he told me; "they're always working to
beat time or else they're wanderin' off somewhere lookin' up good
cuttin' timber and dam sites."

Now, I am sure that Mr. and Mrs. Peg were mated, and for life. Indeed,
I believe all beavers mate for life. They are by nature domestic,
home-loving and industrious, and provident, storing up food for the
winter, making provision against the time food will be scarce because
of snow and ice. They have the cooperative instinct and often combine
their efforts, constructing a house large enough for the whole colony
in the deepest water of the pond, all joining in the harvesting of
green aspen or cottonwood.

Every fall I watched Mr. and Mrs. Peg at their repairs. Their tribe
increased as the years passed, and the shielding laws of the state
protected them. I called their group the "Old Settlers" colony.

[Illustration: Every fall I watched Mr. and Mrs. Peg at their repairs.]

One fall the Old Settlers abandoned their pond and constructed an
entirely new dam above it, thus solving a number of problems. Sand and
gravel carried down by the swift little stream had settled in the still
water of the pool and almost filled it. The ever-increasing family
outgrew the old house. All the near-by aspens had been cut; this
necessitated the dragging of trees too great a distance before they
could be pushed into the water and floated down. Coyotes had surprised
and killed a number of the Old Settlers' kin as they worked on the long
portage to the stream, and I am sure that the moving of their home was
partly to overcome this danger.

Then it was they earned the title, "Busy Beaver"! How they worked!
That was before the days of ubiquitous automobiles and the beavers had
not become nocturnal in their habits. They swarmed everywhere.
Certain ones were detailed to inspect the dam, make necessary repairs
and maintain the water at the same level all the time. Others worked
at the new house, piling sicks and mud into a heap. It grew, the dam
was raised, so the water was maintained within a few inches of the top
of the unfinished wall. Occasionally I caught a glimpse of some
workers in the deep water or near the shores of the ponds; they were
digging safety-firsts, water escapes for emergency use. These canals
led from the house to either bank and connected with tunnels that had
their openings concealed beneath the surface of