ances been made on a quarter of the tree where
it was inconvenient for the cutter to work, seemed to indicate a plan
to fell the tree in a particular direction. In the other locality,
I knew the attitude of the trees before they were cut, and in this
instance the evidence was so complete and conclusive that I must
believe the beaver that cut down these trees endeavored to get them to
fall in a definite direction. In each of these cases, however, judging
chiefly from the teeth-marks, I think the cuttings were done by the
same beaver. Many observations induce me to believe, however, that the
majority of beaver do not plan how the trees are to fall.

Once a large tree is on the ground, the limbs are trimmed off and the
trunk is cut into sections sufficiently small to be dragged, rolled,
or pushed to the water, where transportation is easy.

The young beaver that I have seen cutting trees have worked in
leisurely manner, in contrast with the work of the old ones. After
giving a few bites, they usually stop to eat a piece of the bark, or
to stare listlessly around for a time. As workers, young beaver appear
at their best and liveliest when taking a limb from the hillside to
the house in the pond. A young beaver will catch a limb by one end in
his teeth, and, throwing it over his shoulder in the attitude of a
puppy racing with a rope or a rag, make off to the pond. Once in the
water, he throws up his head and swims to the house or the dam with
the limb held trailing out over his back.

The typical beaver-house seen in the Rockies at the present time
stands in the upper edge of the pond which the beaver-dam has made,
near where the brook enters it. Its foundation is about eight feet
across, and it stands from five to ten feet in height, a rude cone in
form. Most houses are made of sticks and mud, and are apparently put
up with little thought for the living-room, which is later dug or
gnawed from the interior. The entrance to the house is below
water-level, and commonly on the bottom of the lake. Late each autumn,
the house is plastered on the outside with mud, and I am inclined to
believe that this plaster is not so much to increase the warmth of
the house as to give it, when the mud is frozen, a strong protective
armor, an armor which will prevent the winter enemies of the beaver
from breaking into the house.

Each autumn beaver pile up near by the house, a large brush-heap of
green trunks and limbs, mostly of aspen, will