84 f^ays of Wood Folk. 



intelligence displayed by the beavers in choosing a 

 site for their dam, one observer claiming skill, inge- 

 nuity, even reason for the beavers ; another claiming 

 a mere instinctive haphazard piling together of mate- 

 rials anywhere in the stream. I have seen perhaps a 

 hundred different dams in the wilderness, nearly all 

 of which were well placed. Occasionally I have found 

 one that looked like a stupid piece of work — two or 

 three hundred feet of alder brush and gravel across 

 the widest part of a stream, when, by building just 

 above or below, a dam one-fourth the length might 

 have given them better water. This must be said, 

 however, for the builders, that perhaps they found a 

 better soil for digging their tunnels, or a more con- 

 venient spot for their houses near their own dam ; or 

 that they knew what they wanted better than their 

 critic did. I think undoubtedly the young beavers 

 often make mistakes, but I think also, from studying 

 a good many dams, that they profit by disaster, and 

 build better; and that on the whole their mistakes 

 are not proportionally greater than those of human 

 builders. 



Sometimes a dam proves a very white elephant on 

 their hands. The site is not well chosen, or the 

 stream difficult, and the restrained water pours round 

 the ends of their dam, cutting them away. They build 

 the dam longer at once ; but again the water pours 



