THINGS THAT A BEAVER DOES NOT DO 167 
dropped across the stream, its branches hanging in the water. 
Then he went over to the other side and cut another tree so 
that it fell into the water just above the first, when it drifted 
down against the latter, and their branches became en- 
tangled, making a fine beginning fora dam. All very nice, 
but I suspect the author made liberal drafts upon his imag- 
ination in writing that story, for it is just the way a beaver 
does not go about building a dam. 
Beavers eat no fish or other animal food. 
When caught in a steel trap a beaver does not gnaw its 
foot off, but twists it round and round in its struggles to 
escape until it finally pulls the foot off. It is always the 
fore foot which is thus amputated, and the act is accidental, 
not intentional. 
Beavers do not gnaw a tree partly through, and then wait 
for the wind to blow it down. 
A beaver does not sleep in the lodge with its tail in the 
water so as to have warning of a break in the dam by the 
consequent drop in the water level. Yet I have seen a 
statement to this effect in a paper of large circulation. 
John Bradbury, an Englishman who traveled in the west 
in 1809, 1810 and 1811, in speaking of the knowledge of the 
hunters of the various animals concerning their habits, says: 
“They state that an old beaver, who has escaped from a 
trap, can scarcely ever afterwards be caught, as traveling in 
situations where traps are usually placed, he carries a stick 
in his mouth, with which he probes the sides of the river, 
so that the stick may be caught in the trap.” 
The hunters also said that the young beavers are educated 
by the old ones. ‘It is well known that in constructing 
their dams, the first step the beaver takes is to cut down a 
tree that shall fall across the stream intended to be dammed 
up.” Same old story! The hunters said they often found 
trees partly cut and abandoned, and these would not have 
