82 ANIMAL LIFE OF CARLSBAD CAVERN 



are not very numerous, and are trapped off to prevent 

 any serious damage to the ditch banks and crops. In 

 a country of irrigation ditches they often do serious 

 damage by burrowing through the banks and letting 

 the water escape, but usually their fur is of sufficient 

 value to insure their scarcity, if unlimited trapping is 

 permitted. 



Muskrats are expert swimmers, with large hind feet 

 and fringed toes, a long, naked, sickle-shaped tail, and 

 soft brown fur that nearly conceals the small ears. 

 When full grown they weigh about two pounds. 



MEXICAN BEAVER 



Castor canadensis mexicanus 



A few beavers are said to have been taken a few years 

 ago in Black River on the Washington ranch, four miles 

 south of the Carlsbad Cavern, but the foreman of the 

 ranch thinks that none is found there now. During 

 high water the Black River runs to the Pecos below 

 Carlsbad, but for most of the year it is dry except in 

 pools and sections where the water rises over rocky 

 dykes. On the Washington ranch there are large 

 permanent pools and ponds, fed by flowing springs, so 

 the beavers need only to swim up Black River from the 

 Pecos in high water to find a paradise of deep water, 

 high banks, abundance of food, and ideal homes. 

 Evidently the Pecos River is used as a highway of 

 travel by beavers, but the section below Carlsbad is 

 very strongly alkaline and not enjoyed by them. 



The beaver is a swimming animal, with fully webbed 



