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 
