68 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
a greater scale when one considers their size and 
the restrictions due to lack of implements, acts 
only by instinct. It is indeed difficult to under- 
stand the discrepancy. We might say with some 
reason that the cutting down of trees is the result 
of instinct, just as an elephant reaches a branch’ 
with his trunk and pulls it down so that he may 
enjoy eating the leaves which would otherwise be 
out of reach, or a rat eats his way through an oat 
bin in order to get at the contents. The results in 
such cases are obvious, they require no great 
thought or abstract reasoning, they are the result 
of an immediate desire for, or need of, food, the 
search for which is a primal instinct born in all 
forms of animal life, and manifesting itself long 
before there can be the slightest development of 
reason. The young of many birds are blind when 
first hatched, yet they know enough by inherited 
instinct to hold up their heads and open their 
mouths when food is brought. So also the sight- 
less young of many animals have practically but 
one way of expressing consciousness, which is to 
suckle. So the actual obtaining of food in an 
obvious way is easily accounted for by instinct; 
but when animals plan against emergencies which 
are bound to come some months ahead, or against: 
contingencies which may possibly come, they are 
reasoning to a greater or lesser degree according to 
the methods employed for making the necessary 
provisions. 
