110 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 



have a very marked inherited instinct to follow in 

 the footsteps of their predecessors which causes 

 them to do things naturally. We think that we 

 teach a child to walk, but if we made no effort to 

 do so the child would naturally walk because of 

 the inherited tendency to do that which has been 

 done by ages of ancestors. As the beavers swam, 

 dived and fed without being taught, so also did 

 they cut wood with their teeth without having to 

 be shown how to do it. By observing the work of 

 their parents they undoubtedly acquired a greater 

 knowledge of how things could be done with the 

 least effort and best results. Whether they knew 

 why trees were cut, branches stored, lodges and 

 dams built before they had experienced the rigours 

 of winter, we cannot say, for we do not even know 

 definitely how animals impart knowledge and 

 exchange ideas. 



By the time that occasional spots of scarlet 

 pointed out the earliest of the maples, and the 

 migrating birds had started southward, the beavers 

 began seriously to repair the dams ; fresh material 

 was added, and the height and length sUghtly 

 increased, the lodge also needed material, as the 

 heavy rains had washed away much of the earth- 

 work. The branches which had been peeled during 

 the winter for food were now utilised in the various 

 repair works. Even the inside of the lodge required 

 attention as it was rather small for the increased 

 family, so a little excavating was done until 



