FOOD AND TREE CUTTING 105 
avoid drawing too heavily on a food supply which must be 
used in winter. 
The following plants have been mentioned or have been 
noted as being used in summer: Raspberry bushes, various 
sorts of roots and grasses (Morgan); roots of water lily and 
spatterdock (Dugmore); berries, mushrooms, sedge (Mills) ; 
wild rose bushes, cow parsnip, thistles (Warren); hazel, 
cornel, service berry (Bailey). 
I also noticed that other plants such as wild geranium 
had been cut where a beaver was feeding, but have no evi- 
dence that they were eaten, though presumably they were. 
In the case of the bushes, as well as the seedling aspens which © 
are often cut at this season, leaves, wood, and bark all 
appear to be eaten. 
Howell, in the Biological Survey of Alabama, says that in 
one locality in that state, wherever cornfields bordered the 
lake deeply worn trails were found leading into the fields, 
and it was stated that in summer beavers resorted regularly 
to the corn patches and consumed a considerable quantity 
of corn. A planter told of finding one standing up in a corn- 
field and reaching for an ear of corn. ‘This is the only men- 
tion I have seen of beavers destroying farm crops. 
Much has been said and written about the tree-cutting 
activities of the beaver. First I wish to say that it is 
extremely rare, if ever, that a beaver cuts a tree with the 
idea of having it fall in a certain definite direction. Enos 
Mills told me that he had seen one or two instances where 
such might have been the case, but he did not know if it 
was so. As a matter of fact, most, if not all, beaver-cut 
trees fall in the direction towards which they happen to 
lean. Wind may occasionally influence the direction in 
which a tree falls. 
The powerful incisor teeth are the tools with which a 
beaver does his tree cutting, and most efficient tools they are. 
