RESULTS OF BEAVERS' WORK 159 



men interested in the question. There is absolutely 

 no desire to tread on anybody's toes, but rather to 

 call attention to conditions which might so easily 

 be remedied, for my interest is simply with the 

 beaver, and with protection of wild life in general. 



I know it has been asserted that beaver were 

 too abundant in a certain park, but whether the 

 assertion was justified by facts I have serious 

 doubts. At any rate, before radical measures were 

 adopted, it would have been advisable to have had 

 the expert opinion of an entirely disinterested 

 person, or, better still, of many persons, and if 

 their findings resulted in a disagreement then the 

 beaver should have had the benefit of the doubt. 



In Newfoundland the question of beaver protec- 

 tion needs most serious consideration and a definite 

 policy lined out for future plans. Eleven years 

 ago I first visited that country, and each succeeding 

 year until 1912, when I was last there. During 

 that period of ten years ample opportunities were 

 afforded me of observing the beaver and the 

 extraordinary results of what protection can do. 

 During the first four visits to the island / never 

 saw but one beaver colony, and that a very small 

 one in a remote and inaccessible part of the country. 

 In 1912 1 counted no less than twenty-seven 

 occupied lodges within a short day of walking and 

 canoeing. What has happened in that one district 

 is simply an indication of what might be expected 

 elsewhere, and goes to show how rapidly the whole 



