70 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
and unnecessary damming up of streams. There 
may be reason for these, as for instance, the 
sharpening of the teeth by cutting the wood. 
While in the latter case, it may simply be for 
something to do. Do we not do equally idiotic 
things when time hangs heavy on our hands? 
Watch people sitting on a beach and see what many 
of them do. But we don’t judge their intelligence 
by such ridiculous exhibitions. An animal as 
industrious as the beaver probably finds it difficult 
to refrain from some sort of activity. It does not 
seem fair to judge any animal except by the work 
he does and the method of doing it, for that is the 
way we judge ourselves. The actual fact of cutting 
down a tree does not necessarily, as already stated, 
show any very great intelligence, but the method 
employed frequently does. Take for example, 
the tree shown in the photograph. That tree 
was directly perpendicular, its branches resting 
slightly against the neighbouring trees. The beavers 
cut round it to adepth which would certainly cause 
it to fall if there was the least wind. To have cut 
more deeply into it would have been dangerous, as 
without warning the tree would have dropped 
straight down and caught the beaver’s head in all 
probability. Presumably the animal understood 
this, judging from the fact that he left it. Fortu- 
nately, I obtained a photograph of the tree only.a 
few hours before it fell, a slight breeze having caused 
it to overbalance. 
