HISTORY OF THE ADIRONDACK BEAVER. 



411 



gated beavers, however, did not seem to appreciate the safety of their sit- 

 uation, for they were almost constantly endeavoring to gnaw through or 

 climb over the wire mesh fence dividing them from their tormentors. 

 Keeper Ball, whom these endeavors kept in a constant state of worriment, 

 lest they might succeed in their efforts to rejoin the others, and suffer the 

 loss of their lives as a consequence of their foolhardiness, w T as inclined 

 to view their peculiar disregard for consequences as an aggravating case 

 of misdirected valor. In fact, this very thing eventually occurred; for, 

 despite Mr. Ball's vigilance, one of the beavers cut its way into the com- 

 partment containing the other five, and was promptly killed by them. 

 This occurred only a few days before the others were liberated. 



Mr. Ball fed the beavers once a da)"* during their temporary confine- 

 ment, cutting for them every week a fresh supply of yellow and white 



BEAVER CHIP. NATURAL SIZE. 



birch (Betula lutea and B. papyrifera) , alder (Alnus incana), poplar (Popu- 

 lus trcmuloides), dogwood (Cormis fiorida), shadbush (Amelanchier cana- 

 densis) and striped maple (Acer pemisylvanicum) .f He also gave them 

 a variety of vegetables, such as apples, carrots, turnips, beets, potatoes 

 and cabbages, of which they were quite fond. When I visited the beaver 

 pond on January 15, 1905, they had consumed four bushels of vegetables, 

 or about a bushel a week. Thev were also consuming about a cord of 

 small brush each week, and a cord of wood. The brush was eaten entire, 

 but the wood, which was cut into eighteen-inch lengths, and averaged 

 three inches in diameter, they did not eat, but stripped each piece of its 



* At 4 p. m. 



t The generosity of the Old Forge Company deserves to be recorded here. To provide feed 

 for the beavers, permission was given Mr. Ball to cut any kind of tree or shrub, up to four inches in 

 diameter, on any part of their 1,350 acres of wooded land. 



