When the tree was almost cut off, the cutter 

 usually thumped with his tail, at which signal all 

 other cutters near by scampered away. But this 

 warning signal was not always given, and in one 

 instance an unwarned cutter had a narrow escape 

 from a tree falling perilously close to him. 



Before cutting a tree, a beaver usually paused 

 and appeared to look at its surroundings as if 

 choosing a place to squat or sit while cutting it 

 down; but so far as I could tell, he gave no 

 thought as to the direction in which the tree was 

 going to fall. This is true of every beaver which 

 I have seen begin cutting, and I have seen scores. 

 But beavers have individuality, and occasionally 

 I noticed one with marked skill or decision. It 

 may be, therefore, that some beaver try to fell 

 trees on a particular place. In fact, I remember 

 having seen in two localities stumps which sug- 

 gested that the beaver who cut down the trees 

 had planned just how they were to fall. In the 

 first locality, I could judge only from the record 

 left by the stumps ; but the quarter on which 

 the main notch had been made, together with 

 the fact that the notch had in two instances been 



55 



