116 MAMMALS

was an interesting sight to watch the old paterfamilias
set to work on a previously felled trunk ; soon
followed by several more youthful labourers, scions,
probably, of the diligent foreman of the works. With
amazing energy their sharp, ever-gnawing tools plied
through the wood, the shavings in width corresponding
to the gouge-shaped edge of their teeth, now and again
jerked aside with a comic, vicious-looking toss of the
bullet-shaped head. Unfortunately, not having a
watch, I was unable to time the speed with which the
logs were cut. I should say that half an hour amply
covered the period occupied in cutting one log of about
ten inches in diameter. While standing, trees are
gnawed round the circumference from nine inches to
fifteen inches from the ground, the deepest cutting
being done on the side towards which the tree is to
fall; felled trunks too heavy to turn over offer more
difficulties, the greater portion of the gnawing having
to be done from the uppermost side ; hence, also, it is
easy to know, by the surface of the cut, whether a tree
has been worked on while standing or when prostrated
on the ground. These logs supply, I am inclined to
think, a twofold want; for not only is the bark
welcome winter provender, but their bulky nature
makes them good building material wherewith to dam
up the base of a dyke.’ When beavers have got a tree
down, they cut off the branches and clear away the
twigs before setting to work to cut it up into short
lengths, and these lengths are always in proportion to
the thickness of the tree, the thicker trees being in
shorter sections. ‘In moving cuttings of this descrip-
tion, says Mr. Morgan, ‘they are quite ingenious.