56 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 



then with their teeth pare it down into fine shavings. 

 They are very cleanly in their habits, as they often 

 clean out their house, not casting away the refuse, 

 but using it either on the top of the house or the 

 embankment of the dam to patch up a hole. 



" Their food in winter consists wholly of the bark 

 of trees ; had they a choice I have no hesitation in 

 saying they would prefer the willow and poplar. 

 These not growing in the enclosure they had just to 

 adapt themselves to circumstances, and take a share 

 of what trees they could get, consisting of oak, plane 

 tree, elm, thorn, hazel, Scotch fir, and larch. Of the 

 hardwood, they seem to prefer elm to plane tree, 

 then oak, of which they eat sparingly. Of the firs, 

 the Scotch has the preference ; as for the larch they 

 did not touch it till early in 1878, since which time 

 they have taken to it very well. As for the alder 

 and spruce fir, they eat almost nothing of them. 

 Along with all these, we have always given them a 

 supply of willow. In summer they eat freely of the 

 common bracken, likewise grass, and young shoots of 

 every description growing in the place. In autumn 

 they grub up and feed upon roots, chief among which 

 is the tormentil (PotentiUa tormentilla), better known 

 to Scotch people as ' tormentil root,' and the young 

 tender shoots of the common ' spurts' before they 

 appear above ground, at the same time cutting down 

 a tree now and again and feeding on the bark. 



" As to the tree-felling it is all done at night ; the 

 number which they have cut down amounts now to 

 187 trees from five feet in circumference downwards. 



