next day--have found all the branches removed, though some of them
would have measured five inches in diameter. But watching beavers work
at night is not only interesting, it is easy to do, and I have
frequently taken both women and children to share in the sport.
Sometimes, right in the heart of the wilderness, I have placed children
within fifteen feet of beavers while they were engaged in cutting up a
tree.

When branches measure from one to three inches in diameter they are
usually cut in lengths of from five to ten feet, and the thicker the
branch the shorter they cut the lengths. If the cutting is done on
land, the butt of the long thinner length is seized by the beaver's
teeth and with the weight resting upon the animal's back, is dragged
along the ground--over a specially cleared road--and eventually
deposited in the water. The shorter lengths, sometimes no longer than
a couple of feet, but measuring perhaps six or eight inches in
diameter, are rolled along the ground by the beaver pushing the log
with the forefeet or shoulder. When the wood is placed in the water,
the beaver propels it to its under-water storage place near its lodge,
where--the wood being green and heavy--it is easily secured from
floating up and away, by placing a little mud over one end or by
interlocking the stick with the rest of the pile. The green wood,
however, soon becomes waterlogged and gives no further trouble. Thus,
when the lake or river is frozen over, the beaver--for it does not
hibernate--may live in comfort all winter long in its weather-proof
lodge with plenty of food stored beneath the ice and just beyond the
watery doorway of its home.


HUNTING THE BEAVER