i8o THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



regards him as a very formidable foe, and that it takes as 

 many precautions to avoid his attacks as it does against 

 those of its chief four-footed foe, the wolverine. It is to 

 avoid the latter that it builds its houses with their entrances 

 well below the level of the water, so that it can go in 

 or out without fear of capture by the way. Against man 

 it adopts another method of defence. It digs holes or 

 caves in the banks of the river below the water level, and 

 here it takes refuge when man attempts to break into its 



house in this respect following the example of many 

 primitive peoples, who abandon their dwellings and seek 

 refuge in almost inaccessible caves at the approach of a foe. 

 As might naturally be expected, the sagacity of the 

 beaver has been exaggerated by report. It was said to 

 be acquainted with the art of pile driving, and to use its 

 tail after the fashion of a mason's trowel, in plastering and 

 smoothing the exterior and interior of its house. These 

 myths have been dissipated by more accurate observation. 

 The beaver has no natural means of pile driving. Were it 

 to endeavour to drive down a thick pile with its tail, it would 



