5.3 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 



" They are remarkably shy of anything human, and 

 upon the least alarm ' flop ' goes one of the flat tails 

 upon the water, and ' presto !' not a Beaver is to 

 be seen. 



" They feed mostly on the inner bark of the Scotch 

 fir, great quantities of which they store under water 

 near their house ; they also eat the younger shoots of 

 the bracken fern, and one or two smaller shrubs of 

 which I do not know the names. They are also very 

 fond of the bark of young willow shoots, which the 

 keeper supplies them with from time to time in the 

 winter." 



Since the date of Mr. Hockin's visit the keeper 

 who has charge of these Beavers, Mr. J. S. Black, has 

 published a most interesting account of them in the 

 Journal of Forestry, for February, 1880,* which 

 we cannot do better than quote in extenso. He says : — 



"In 1874, the Marquis of Bute having obtained four 

 beavers, caused a space of from three to four acres in 

 extent to be enclosed in the wood between Meikle 

 Kilchattan and Drumreach, and placed them there. 

 These not succeeding, his lordship, on 6th January, 

 1875, obtained seven others. Of these, four suc- 

 ceeded so well that in 1878 I was certain of sixteen 

 being alive, which makes an average increase of four 

 each season. There is a further increase this season, 

 but to what extent I cannot say. 



"Arriving as they did in midwinter, these little 



* ' A Short Account of how the Marquis of Bute's Beavers have 

 succeeded in the Isle of Bute, Scotland.' By Joseph Stuart Black, 

 Keeper, Bute Estate. 



