THE BEAVERS OF NORTH AMERICA 61 
necessitates a great deal of labour, as, in order that 
they may be easily handled, the logs must be very 
short, not longer in fact than a foot and a half or 
two feet. The beaver knows the weight of wood 
to a nicety, and he divides the logs and branches 
into lengths which can be handled. This, one may 
say, is instinctive. Perhaps so. But it looks un- 
commonly like reasoning. It certainly requires 
something very closely akin to intelligence to work 
out the weight of along prostrate log, so that as 
the diameter decreases the distance between cuts 
increases, with the result that each piece is of more 
or less the same weight. There is nothing hap- 
hazard about it, and though the beaver have no 
callipers or measures, they seem to know by looking 
at the log what proportion the length should have 
to the diameter, and seldom do may make any very 
great mistake in their calculations. Abandoned 
logs are found, but whether left on account of their 
excessive weight or from some other cause we 
cannot say for certain. It is more than likely that 
the wretched creatures become so absorbed in their 
labours that they fail to detect the stealthy approach 
of some enemy, and so fall easy victims, the forsaken 
log remaining to mark the place of the pitiful 
tragedy. The methods adopted by the beaver for 
taking the logs down to the water are various. 
When the branch is small, or long and thin, it is 
usually carried in the teeth, the larger end forward 
if it has many twigs, otherwise the smaller and 
