10 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 



Many things had to be considered in the selec- 

 tion of a suitable tree. It must be in a place 

 where it could be easily cut, and not too far from 

 the water. Then it should be clear of other trees 

 so that it would fall — unfortunately they often 

 make mistakes in this respect — and finally what is 

 of great importance, the tree must be in the right 

 condition. That could only be ascertained by 

 cutting into the bark, and as he went about he 

 marked several trees in this way before finding one 

 that suited his fastidious taste. Then, sitting on 

 his hind legs, with his large, heavy tail as a balance, 

 he commenced the hard work of biting through 

 the tough wood, after first eating the coating of 

 bark. The noise made by his sharp teeth tearing 

 out the great chips sounded loud in the still even- 

 ing. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, then a pause 

 as he dropped the clean cut chips ; and again the 

 crunching resounded through the darkening woods. 

 For half an hour this continued. Then as a beaver 

 does not like to work too long on any one task, he 

 shuffled off, leaving the birch tree with its gaping 

 wound gleaming white against the sombre back- 

 ground. 



There was a road to make from where that tree 

 would fall, down to the pond, so the beaver 

 attended to that, combining pleasure with his 

 labours, for as he found small saplings of hazel or 

 mountain ash growing in the line of the path, he 

 cut them down and ate off some of the bark. 



