I 



THE BEAVERS OF NORTH AMERICA 59 



during the night they can scarcely be expected to 

 see clearly the tree-tops which are perhaps forty or 

 fifty feet above them. How often does man make 

 exactly the same mistake ? Yet he works in broad 

 daylight and has far better eyesight. When a tree 

 becomes lodged, the beavers' method of solving the 

 difficulty is usually quite different from our own. 

 We seldom cut through the same tree a second 

 time, but choose rather to cut away the obstructing 

 tree. The beaver, on the contrary, nearly always 

 confines his efforts to bringing down the tree he 

 wants by repeated cutting. Only very rarely do 

 they adopt the man's method. In cases where a 

 tree falls so that it comes nearly to the ground 

 either through being entangled in another tree or 

 held up by its own branches resting on the ground, 

 the beaver make their way along the inchned trunk 

 and cut off the supporting branches or, if not too 

 thick, the top of the tree, so that it shall fall to 

 earth and be more easily manipulated. The great 

 weight of the beavers' body and the formation of 

 their feet prevent their climbing a vertical trunk, 

 but when it inclines to an angle of even forty 

 degrees they manage to walk along the rough bark 

 without difficulty. Often have I found branches 

 cut off which were eight or ten feet from the ground, 

 but seldom at any greater height, 

 j The size of trees which beaver will cut is almost 

 incredible. The largest I have seen was twenty- 

 two inches in diameter where the cut was made. 



