Who's Been Eating my Iris?

I suppose I should introduce myself before anything else.  I live in
eastern New York, near the Hudson River.  I don't know much about irises, I
just find I have more of them every year.

Anyhow, last fall I moved some yellow flag iris from the perennial bed,
where they had been taking over everything, to the swamp, where they are
allowed to take over everything.  Today I checked them for the first time
in a few weeks, to see if they were growing yet. I was shocked to see that
most of them were gone. Not as in 'did not make it through the winter,
rotting beneath the water' gone, but 'neat little holes where they used to
be' gone.  I looked at the Japanese iris nearby that I planted last spring,
and half of them were gone too. The only thing left is some dead leaves.
The list of possible suspects includes, but is not limited to, deer,
squirrels, skunks, and raccoons.  The deer have eaten the leaves of a
couple of remaining yellow flags, but somehow the holes don't seem their
style.  Has anybody else had this problem? Any ideas on how I should defend
the survivors? I have a dozen blue flags coming in a few weeks, and don't
want anything to happen to them also. Somehow I didn't expect something
that grows wild in the Hudson River to have these problems.

Kay Cangemi
Mid-Hudson Valley, New York
USDA zone 5
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