i6o THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



THE BEAVER 



The Beaver is one of the animals which in olden days 

 abounded in Great Britain, but have now for several centuries 

 been extinct in that country. A few small colonies yet remain on 

 the Elbe, in Sweden, and in various parts of Northern Europe and 

 Asia. In North America, however, beavers are still plentiful, and 

 frequent the smaller streams and rivers in considerable numbers. 



These wonderful animals have long been famed for their 

 sagacity and architectural skill. Taught by some marvellous 

 instinct, they seem to know that the waters in which they live 

 will be greatly lowered during the heat and drought of summer. 

 In order to prevent this, therefore, they construct an immense 

 dam, which spans the river from side to side, and forms with the 

 banks a reservoir, which is at all times full of water. 



In order to obtain the logs of which this dam is principally 

 composed, a company of beavers set to work together and cut 

 down a number of trees, always selecting those which grow near 

 to the river bank. This they do by gnawing a deep groove round 

 the trunk until the weight of the tree causes it to snap off It 

 is said that the beavers are sufficiently intelligent to cut their 

 groove deepest on the side of the tree nearest the water, in order 

 that it may fall in the direction most convenient for their purposes. 



When the tree has fallen, the beavers proceed to cut it up 

 into logs of from three to six feet in length, still by gnawing 

 through the wood with their strong rodent teeth. Having done 

 this, they carefully strip off the bark and store it away to serve 

 as food during the winter months. Finally, the logs are dragged 

 one by one to the edge of the water, and then floated down to the 

 spot where the dam is to be made. 



These logs are not forced upright into the bed of the stream, 

 as is sometimes imagined, which A\'ouId be a quite impossible task 

 for such creatures; but they are laid down at the bottom in 

 regular order, and prevented from floating up again to the surface 

 by mud and stones piled upon them. 



The dams constructed in this manner are sometimes of enor- 



