4a. 
squirrels, etc., and of the selective browsing of tree seedlings by 
the deer. However, Hairston, Smith, and Slobodkin (1960) point out 
that in order for a community to persist the herbivores must be limited 
by predation below the level at which they deplete the vegetation, or 
the depleted species will be replaced by more resistant ones. Major 
predators in the presettlement forest included bears, cougars, wolves, 
bobcats, and foxes (Shelford, 1963). The last two still persist in the 
vicinity of the Center. 
Storms and hurricanes, aided by the county's normally heavy precip- 
itation, probably caused periodic damage. Craven (1926) notes five major 
storms between the years 1658 and 1787; other big storms have been re- 
corded at 10-to 20-year intervals in the late 19th Century. 
Probably the most important disturbances to the presettlement forest 
were caused by Indians. Indian occupation at the Chesapeake Bay Center 
is documented by 22 heaps of discarded oyster shells, 11 of which are 
large enough to indicate permanent campsites. Fragments of pottery 
permit five of these sites to be dated within the interval 250 B.C. to 
1200 A.D. Other artifacts indicate that besides oysters the Indians ate 
deer, gathered nuts and other fruits, and probably cultivated corn. 
They killed the small game and cut the young trees for firewood, 
moving on when these resources were temporarily exhausted (H. T. Wright, 
unpublished data). By 1608, however, these sedentary Indians had disa- 
ppeared, apparantly driven away by the warlike Susquehannocks, and the 
western shore of the Bay north of the Patuxent River was uninhabited 
(Marye, 1955). 
Marye describes the Susquehannock practice of setting recurrent 
