184 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by George Shiras, 3d 



CUTTING DOWN A GRKAT BLACK ASH I WHITEFISH RIVER 



The principal winter food of the beaver on the lake and river is obtained from the hun- 

 dreds of black ash growing only a few inches above the water level and reached by side 

 channels or sometimes artificial canals. After the smaller ones were cut came others of con- 

 siderable size. The tree in the picture is 91 inches in circumference, and for three years 

 different beavers have attempted to cut it down, but the flashlight has discouraged the com- 

 pletion of these efforts. The animals store the branches of the tree and eat the bark. 



By this time the first fawn had become 

 a yearling and was placed in the same in- 

 closure. Three years ago I learned that 

 there was a yearling albino doe at the 

 State Game Farm, and in a few weeks it 

 was safely transported to Grand Island, 

 where such an addition in new blood has 

 proved of undoubted value. 



Then came a telegram in 19 19 that the 

 white buck had died suddenly in Novem- 



ber, leaving only a buck fawn as the fu- 

 ture head of the herd. 



In the following spring, however, a 

 posthumous white fawn was born, fol- 

 lowed by the favorable news that a large 

 albino doe and two white fawns had been 

 seen on several occasions in a remote 

 part of the island, and these latter can be 

 placed in the inclosure if deemed advis- 

 able. 



