96 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



ever, be considerable in most situations. A 

 strong iron or wire fence which would resist 

 their jaws, and which would also keep out bad 

 dogs, would be a large item if it enclosed an 

 area spacious enough for extensive operations. 

 Only a short time would elapse before the 

 beavers had cut down and used up all the trees 

 and bushes which were not jacketed with stout 

 wire higher than they could reach; and after 

 that it would be needful to feed them with fresh 

 tree-limbs of suitable kinds. Lastly, if the 

 colony amounted to anything it would doubtless 

 be necessary in most places to guard it well 

 against human marauders who would kill the 

 animals for their valuable pelts. It is to be 

 noted that these animals will not eat the bark 

 of evergreen (coniferous) trees of any kind. 



It is proper also to add a caution quoted 

 from Vernon Bailey's notes on Texas mammals 

 (N. A. Fauna, No. 25.) 



"In talking with John Seavel, an old beaver trap- 

 per, I asked him why it would not pay to protect the 

 beaver in a pond like that above Pecos bridge (over 

 the Rio Grande), and let them multiply. The idea 

 was not new to him, for he had talked it over with 

 other trappers and all agreed that it was not worth 



