ENEMIES 149 
otters, and possibly foxes and fishers, seem to be the four- 
footed enemies with which a beaver has to reckon. Some 
of the larger hawks, such as the goshawk, as well as the 
eagles and great horned owl, may occasionally pick up a 
small youngster. Dugmore, in his story of the life of a 
beaver family, tells of a goshawk capturing a beaver kit 
as it was playing on the shore. As Dugmore was very 
careful in what he wrote I take it for granted he based his 
story on facts known to him. He seems to be the only 
author who mentions birds killing beaver, but I see nothing 
improbable about such an occurrence as he relates. 
Of the other enemies mentioned, all, excepting the otter, 
probably kill beavers by surprising them when on land, 
or perhaps occasionally when in very shallow water. They 
may steal upon a victim when it is at work cutting down a 
tree, or trimming one after it has been felled, or traveling 
across country from one water to another. Milills gives 
several instances where a number of beavers were thus 
killed by cougars and coyotes. I found in the Longs Peak 
region in late August, what was left of a beaver which had 
been killed a few days before by a coyote or coyotes, drop- 
pings of which were found close-by. All that could be found 
of the beaver were a few scraps of fur and of the scaly 
part of the tail, and part of the intestines. These were but 
a few feet from the lodge, which was a bank lodge, and 
presumably at or near the place where the victim had 
been surprised and killed. 
Mills also mentions an instance of a bear tearing open a 
beaver house, a proceeding which to me looks like a waste 
of time. While Bruin was trying to break through the thick 
walls the inmates would quietly leave and all he would have 
for his trouble would be an opportunity to observe the do- 
mestic arrangements of his intended prey. 
Comparatively little seems to be known as to the rela- 
