Beaver
Along the shores of sluggish streams, of lonely lakes and ponds, you may see the beaver, the muskrat, very rarely the otter, and sometimes an ugly little, long-bodied animal belonging to the marten family called the fisher. These are all interesting, each in its own way, and well worth hours of quiet observation. The beaver, otter, and fisher choose wild, secluded places for their homes, but the muskrat may be found also in the marshes of farm lands. On the edges of our Long Island meadows the boys trap muskrats for their skins.
You will find the beaver house in the water close to the shore and overlapping it. Though strongly and carefully built, it looks very much like a jumble of small driftwood, with bleached sticks well packed together, and the ends standing out at all angles. The sticks are stripped of their bark and the house gleams whitely against the dark water. The houses vary in size, some being built as high as five feet. The beaver is rarely seen early in the day, most of his work is done at night, so the best time to watch for him is just before dusk or perhaps an hour before sundown. It is not well to wait to see the beaver if your trail back to camp is a long one, leading through dense forests. You would far better postpone making its acquaintance than to risk going over the, perhaps, treacherous paths after dark. Night comes early in the woods and darkness shuts down closely while it is still light in the open. If your camp is near the beaver house or beaver dam, or if your trip can be made by water, then, with no anxiety about your return, you can sit down and calmly await the coming of this most skilful of all building animals, and may see him add material to his house, or go on with his work of cutting down a tree, as a reward for your patience.