THE BEAVERS OF NORTH AMERICA 75 
advantage to be gained by curves they make curves, 
in other words they follow the lines of least resist- 
ance, appreciating the fact that a straight line is the 
shortest distance between two points. When the 
canal leads from the pond across more or less level 
ground to an abrupt hillside which is well-wooded, 
they are not content with simply running their 
canal to this hill, but they frequently make branches 
on either side, these branches often extending 
several hundred feet so that the beaver are able to 
take their cuttings by way of the canals with the 
least possible effort. In making the canals the 
animals scoop out the earth with their hands and 
put most of it on the banks. If the ditch runs 
parallel to the hill or rising ground, most of the 
earth is placed on the lower bank so that it will not 
interfere with supply of surface water on which 
they largely depend for keeping the canals suffi- 
ciently deep. In the low lands there is seldom any 
difficulty in the matter of water, as the seepage 
naturally finds its way-into the ditch, but in some 
cases the beaver are confronted with the scarcity 
of water and they resort to most ingenious methods 
for overcoming the difficulty. They will search 
the immediate vicinity for a stream however small, 
or a living spring. This they will tap by means of 
a narrow ditch which leads the water to the canal, 
another example of the animals’ careful reasoning. 
Besides these long and ambitious canals which 
were, I believe, first described by Morgan, and 
