feat is surely something more than 

 merely instinct. 



On an exploring trip over the foot 

 hills of Dunwood Mountain, Bige and I 

 came upon a very unusual beaver dam 

 on Little Bear Brook. The brook at 

 this point flowed through a deep ravine. 

 The dam built across the valley mea- 

 sured in length at its top two hundred 

 and ten feet. It was fifteen feet from 

 the bottom of brook to top of dam, and 

 we estimated the width at its base at 

 forty feet. Water was flowing over a 

 spillway three feet wide at one end of 

 the dam. The upper and lower sides 

 of the dam sloped away steeply like 

 the roof of a house, and along the ridge 

 was a row of stones, each about the 

 size of a man's head. We walked across 

 the dam on these stones without wetting 

 our feet, and we wondered how the 

 beavers got them into position. It did 

 not seem possible that such small 

 animals could lift and carry these heavy 

 stones to where they were placed. It 



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