110 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
have a very marked inherited instinct to follow in 
the footsteps of their predecessors which causes 
them to do things naturally. We think that we 
teach a child to walk, but if we made no effort to 
do so the child would naturally walk because of 
the inherited tendency to do that which has been 
done by ages of ancestors. As the beavers swam, 
dived and fed without being taught, so also did 
they cut wood with their teeth without having to 
be shown how to do it. By observing the work of 
their parents they undoubtedly acquired a greater 
knowledge of how things could be done with the 
least effort and best results. Whether they knew 
why trees were cut, branches stored, lodges and 
dams built before they had experienced the rigours 
of winter, we cannot say, for we do not even know 
definitely how animals impart knowledge and 
exchange ideas. 
By the time that occasional spots of scarlet 
pointed out the earliest of the maples, and the 
migrating birds had started southward, the beavers 
began seriously to repair the dams; fresh material 
was added, and the height and length slightly 
increased, the lodge also needed material, as the 
heavy rains had washed away much of the earth- 
work. The branches which had been peeled during 
the winter for food were now utilised in the various 
repair works. Even the inside of the lodge required 
attention as it was rather small for the increased 
family, so a little excavating was done until 
