118 THE BEAVER 
must have been on all fours, and others may be cut when the 
beaver is standing up and working as high as it can reach. 
One or both fore feet are placed on the trunk while the work 
is being done. 
There are many mischaneces connected with tree felling. 
The top of a tree may lodge in the branches of an adjoining 
tree so that it does not fall to the ground (Fig. 61). Onceina 
while it may be released by cutting the obstructing tree, but 
not often. Sometimes part of the trunk can be cut off. I 
found an aspen four inches through whose top had lodged in 
another tree a short distance away. Evidently it had been 
leaning considerably, and the beavers had cut off so much 
that the end of the suspended part was only about half the 
size of the stump and was nine feet away from it, and over 
two feet from the ground. Attempts to release an entangled 
tree are usually made by cutting the trunk a second, and even 
a third time, presumably with the hope that as the tree 
settles after the new cutting it will clear itself of entangle- 
~ ments and fall to the ground. This it does at times, and, 
I suspect, just as often doesnot. IJIfound in the Longs Peak 
region twin aspen stumps, two feet high and two inches in 
diameter. Another aspen had been felled and caught 
between them, and all of it cut off and carried away except 
a piece eight inches long and 14 inches in diameter which 
still remained between the two stumps. Of course there 
was nothing to show which tree had been felled first, but 
presumably the entangled one, for it could hardly have 
caught between the stumps if the other trees had been cut 
first. 
The next step after the felling of a tree is the trimming 
of the branches, and then the cutting of the trunk into 
lengths suitable for transportation to the food pile. The 
length of the pieces into which a log will be cut naturally 
varies with its diameter. Morgan states that logs five inches 
