70 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 



and unnecessary damming up of streams. There 

 may be reason for these, as for instance, the 

 sharpening of the teeth by cutting the wood. 

 While in the latter case, it may simply be for 

 something to do. Do we not do equally idiotic 

 things when time hangs heavy on our hands ? 

 Watch people sitting on a beach and see what many 

 of them do. But we don't judge their intelligence 

 by such ridiculous exhibitions. An animal as 

 industrious as the beaver probably finds it difficult 

 to refrain from some sort of activity. It does not 

 seem fair to judge any animal except by the work 

 he does and the method of doing it, for that is the 

 way we judge ourselves. The actual fact of cutting 

 down a tree does not necessarily, as already stated, 

 show any very great intelligence, but the method 

 employed frequently does. Take for example, 

 the tree shown in the photograph. That tree 

 was directly perpendicular, its branches resting 

 slightly against the neighbouring trees. The beavers 

 cut round it to a depth which would certainly cause 

 it to fall if there was the least wind. To have cut 

 more deeply into it would have been dangerous, as 

 without warning the tree would have dropped 

 straight down and caught the beaver's head in all 

 probability. Presumably the animal understood 

 this, judging from the fact that he left it. Fortu- 

 nately, I obtained a photograph of the tree only a 

 few hours before it fell, a slight breeze having caused 

 it to overbalance. 



