THE BEAVER. 



283 



the point of a pruning 1 knife or scalpel. There have been 

 many theories advanced as to the use that the beaver 

 makes of this blade-like claw. It is too thin to be employed 

 in cutting or digging ; and the writer is inclined to agree 

 with the trappers and woodsmen, who say that this extra 

 claw is given to the Beaver to remove the splinters that 

 get between its teeth when cutting down trees. The shape 

 of this knife-blade claw and its location would seem to 

 prove that it is indeed ''the Beaver's toothpick." 



It is strange that such an important structural peculiar- 

 ity should have been overlooked, or ignored, by nearly 

 all the scientists, and others, who have written about this 

 wonderfully intelligent and interesting animal. The few 

 who have noticed it at all, merely say, "The Beaver has a 

 double claw on the next to the last toe on the hind foot." 



THE BEAVER'S TOOTHPICK 



