THE BEAVERS OF NORTH AMERICA 47 



to baffle them. I saw an instance in Newfoundland 

 which may be worth repeating : a small colony of 

 beaver were engaged in building a dam across a 

 swift stream about forty feet in width. Before 

 the work was quite finished, so that the dam had 

 not yet settled enough to gain its proper strength, 

 there came a great rain which continued for several 

 days and flooded the country. The beavers, seeing 

 that their new dam was threatened with immediate 

 destruction, came down during the night and made 

 a large opening by cutting away the sticks. This 

 allowed the water to escape and so the dam was 

 saved. No sooner had the water resumed its 

 normal level than the little engineers closed the 

 break they had made and continued the structure 

 to its completion. For fear that I might have been 

 mistaken and that the opening had been made by 

 the force of the water, I examined it carefully and 

 found the tooth-marks on the sticks showing with- 

 out doubt where the animals had cut them away : 

 and it is of interest to note that Father Jouvency, 

 as long ago as 1610 — 13, made note of this same 

 thing being done. He says : *' But if the river 

 swell more than is safe, they break open some part 

 of the structure, and let through as much water 

 as seems sufficient." 



The more we study the beaver dams the more 

 we must recognise the care exercised in the 

 selection of their sites. Everything seems to be 

 considered and every advantage is taken of the 



