158 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



the pond furnished soil in which a heavy crop of grass was destined 

 to spring up after the dam should eventually be abandoned. This 

 actually happened, and when I was there the usefulness of the 

 old beaver dam to present human inhabitants was evidenced by 

 the fact that the meadow had recently been cut for hay. 



The beaver ponds act as settling basins for the inwashed soil 

 which, when carried downstream, silts up the channels and destroys 

 the breeding grounds of fishes, as well as fills the channels so that 

 they easily overflow their banks during heavy rains. The importance 

 of these influences has not been and is not now adequately recog- 

 nized. 



Relation of Beaver Work to Deer in Winter and to Water Birds 



It was believed by Ranger Conkey that beaver ponds, at times 

 in winter, caused some distress among deer because of the raised 

 water level which permits the freezing over of spring entrances 

 where deer are accustomed to drink. In their eagerness for water 

 the deer as a consequence may attempt to get it in places difficult 

 to reach. He mentioned three instances where he had found deer 

 that had gotten into water holes to drink and from which they 

 were unable to get out. Ranger Isaac Robinson, on the contrary, 

 does not believe that this question of water is a serious one. He 

 told of seeing many places where deer had regularly passed by open 

 water without turning aside to drink, their trails in the snow show- 

 ing this plainly. As the deer eat snow freely, he held that they 

 were not at all dependent upon open water. 



Another point brought out by Mr. Robinson was the claim of 

 some old guides that beaver ponds destroy a great deal of the 

 winter food of the deer. He had not himself seen any clear proof 

 of this. The food alleged to be destroyed particularly is the young 

 growth of balsam fir ; but also other vegetation or shrubbery found 

 in the swamps where many deer spend the winter. The idea is that 

 deer often form the habit of retreating to the same swamps where 

 they have previously wintered and if such a locality should in the 

 meantime have been flooded they would find their feeding grounds 

 restricted. This theory assumes that the animals either out of sheer 

 stupidity or attachment for a local area remain there and suffer 

 from lack of food instead of seeking better foraging grounds else- 

 where. 



Mr. H. H. Fish, guide at Indian Lake, holds a quite contrary 



