MAMMALS OF THE MEXICAN BOUNDARY. 357 



October 1, 1885, Fort Verde, Arizona. — Being desirous of obtaining 

 a handsome section of a cottonwood tree bearing the marks of the 

 beaver's teeth, I selected an immense one which the beavers had cut 

 two-tliirds through, and which exhibited well the marks of their teeth 

 and their apparent intention and ability to fell a tree in a particidar 

 direction. Colonel Clendennin, commanding the post, kindly allowed 

 me to take a large crosscut, dou1)le-handed saw and the provost ser- 

 geant with two men. The tree proved to be larger than 1 had sup- 

 posed, and we were unable to saw it down. As a good deal of heavy 

 cottonwood timber had been cut by beavers in that vicinity, I meas- 

 ured the circumference of the trunks of six of the larger trees. The 

 measurements, taken above the cutting, were as follows: 81 J inches, 

 2H, .55^, 36, 87^, and 89. One or two of the trees measured were 

 still standing nearly cut through, l^ut these were felled l)y the beavers' 

 soon after and carried away by them, with the exception of the heaviest 

 trunks from which all the branches were gnawed. 



Novemher 7, 1885. — A prospector related a story of a fight between 

 a beaver and mountain lion. The miner, encamped on the Colorado 

 Kiver at a point where there was a broad sand flat, saw a beaver in 

 the early morning crossing the sand flat to a strip of cottonwood tim- 

 ber, whence it was afterwards seen dragging a stick of wood back 

 toward the water. A mountain lion was then seen crouched in 

 the trail watching, ready to intercept the beaver. As the latter 

 approached the lion sprang upon it, and the two animals closed in a 

 desperate conflict. The fortunes of war wavered, now on the side of 

 the lion, anon on that of the beaver. The miner, taking his rifle in 

 hand, cautiously approached the combatants and watched them from 

 a place of concealment. After fighting a long time the beaver was 

 left dead on the field and the lion attempted to crawl from the spot, 

 followed by the prospector, who found it unnecessary to kill the lion 

 with his rifle, as it soon lay down upon the sand and died from exhaus- 

 tion and loss of blood. 



January 22, 1886, Fort Verde, Arizona. — During the past week 

 there have been long heavy rains. The rainfall in the valley amounted 

 to several inches, while upon Grief Hill, 1,500 feet higher (altitude 

 about 5,000 feet), the precipitation amounted to 5 inches. The 

 Verde River overflowed its banks and flooded the beavers out from 

 their burrows in the river banks. For a night or two they were seen 

 all along the river, showing great excitement, and several of them 

 were shot. 



March 26, 1886, Fort Verde, Arizona.— K few days ago a female 

 mallard flew from a beaver-felled cottonwood whose branches 

 drooped into the water beyond a pile of driftwood. As I had been 

 within a few feet of the spot for a quarter of an hour without noticing 

 the duck, I suspected that it had a nest among the driftage. To-day, 



