10 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
Many things had to be considered in the selec- 
tion of a suitable tree. It must be in a place 
where it could be easily cut, and not too far from 
the water. Then it should be clear of other trees 
so that it would fall—unfortunately they often 
make mistakes in this respect—and finally what is 
of great importance, the tree must be in the right 
condition. That could only be ascertained by 
cutting into the bark, and as he went about he 
marked several trees in this way before finding one 
that suited his fastidious taste. Then, sitting on 
his hind legs, with his large, heavy tail as a balance, 
he commenced the hard work of biting through 
the tough wood, after first eating the coating of 
bark. The noise made by his sharp teeth tearing 
out the great chips sounded loud in the still even- 
ing. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, then a pause 
as he dropped the clean cut chips; and again the 
crunching resounded through the darkening woods. 
For half an hour this continued. Then as a beaver 
does not like to work too long on any one task, he 
shuffled off, leaving the birch tree with its gaping 
wound gleaming white against the sombre back- 
ground. 
There was a road to make from where that tree 
would fall, down to the pond, so the beaver 
attended to that, combining pleasure with his 
labours, for as he found small saplings of hazel or 
mountain ash growing in the line of the path, he 
cut them down and ate off some of the bark. 
