FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 61 



but of various sizes and very strong ; but where we stopped long 

 enough to lay out some lines of traps, and especially in winter 

 hunting "dead-falls" were also used — heavy logs of wood so 

 arranged with two little cross-pieces of stick, that on the bait or 

 trigger being touched they fall on, and squash, the animal 

 touching it. 



You have probably all heard of the wonderful instinct and 

 ingenuity of the beaver. They are certainly great waterworks 

 engineers, much more learned and clever in erecting dams and 

 reservoirs than many human engineers. I have had many 

 opportunities of seeing and examining their dams, and some of 

 them were really wonderful constructions. They are by no 

 means alike, but vary according to the locality, the lay of the 

 ground, to the size of the river or stream to the force of current, 

 &c.j ifcc. In fact the beaver studies " local circumstances " and 

 human engineers would do well to do the same. 



Let me try to describe one dam which we broke up and 

 hunted out on a small stream running into the upper waters of 

 Nepisiquit. The place was well selected, a low spur of hard 

 ground running across the valley on either side, but still leaving 

 a wide space between, and not a narrow gully in which the force 

 of current (when the stream was in flood) would be too great for 

 the dam to resist. Two or three large trees (pines I think), had 

 been felled by the beaver on each of these spurs so as fall across 

 the stream, tending slightly downwards. 



Now it requires a considerable amount of " backwoods " 

 knowledge or ingenuity to make a large tree fall exactly where 

 you wish. A good axe-man knows well how to do it, possibly the 

 G.O.M. — who is said to be great in that as in some other things 

 — knows how to do it, though there are some who think that he 

 attempts to throw things down without knowing where they will 

 fall, or what the result will be. You must not cut a notch all 

 round the tree, leaving a small pin in the centre which finally 

 breaks and the tree falls in any direction as may happen. You 

 must cut in an even level notch on two sides only — the side you 

 want the tree to fall to, and the side you want it to fall from : 

 and the former should have an even surface a little lower in 

 the stem, say h an inch or an inch, than the similar notch 

 with similar level surface on the latter; the first notch, the side 

 you wish the tree to fall to, should be deeper than the other and 

 pas.-, the centre of the stem. 



Well on this principle does the beaver fell his trees which 

 are often of great size. He nibbles with his sharp gouge-like 

 teeth, a little all round the stem it is true, but, as you will 

 always find, much deeper and slightly lower down the trunk on 

 the side which the tree falls to, and is meant to fall to. 



