302 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



tiou, and when taken young and properly brought up, may be made 

 to discover a very faithful and affectionate regard for his keeper. I 

 once possessed a young male which, after a month's keeping, would 

 follow me about like a dog ; and when I had been absent from him for 

 a couple of hours, he would shew as much joy at my return, as one 

 of the canine species could possibly do." 1 * 



Muskrai. This well known animal is found all over North Ame- 

 rica. Its length from the nose to the end of the tail is about twenty- 

 four inches ; its eyes are small and dark ; ears large, and hid in the 

 fur ; upper parts reddish brown ; lower fore parts ferruginous ; abdo- 

 men reddish drab ; its feet are five-toed ; the hind feet are semipal- 

 mate. The weight of one full grown is upwards of three pounds. 



Pennant has with great propriety classed the Muskrat with the 

 Beaver ; but Turton has arranged it with the genus Mus. It is un- 

 questionably a Beaver in its habits. It is never found remote from 

 water : the margins of mill-ponds, brooks, creeks and meadow-ditches 

 are its dwelling places. It feeds on various vegetable substances ; 

 on fruit : and, it is said, fresh water muscles. 



Great quantities of this animal are caught every year in the United 

 States, by those skilled in trapping ; notwithstanding which multi- 

 tudes yet remain, and occasion much trouble and damage to the pro- 

 prietors of the meadows and mill-seats, in the embankments and dams 

 of which, the Muskrats are coiitinally burrowing. 



In the summer, the Muskrat smells strongly of musk ; but in the 

 winter this odour is not perceptible, until the animal is handled. 



The Louisiana Marmot, commonly called Prairie Dog or Barking 

 Squirrel, is found in considerable numbers in the vicinity of the Mis- 

 souri, and throughout the greater part of Louisiana. This animal 

 commonly weighs three pounds. The colour is an uniform bright 

 brick red and grey, the former predominates ; the under side of the 

 neck and belly are lighter than the other parts of the body ; the legs 

 are short, and the breast and shoulders wide ; the head is stout and 

 muscular, and terminates more bluntly, wider and flatter than that of 

 the common squirrel ; the ears are short, and have the appearance 

 of amputation ; the jaw is furnished with a pouch to contain his food, 

 but not so large as that of the common squirrel ; the nose is armed 

 with whiskers on each side, and a few long hairs are inserted on each 

 jaw, directly over the eyes ; the eyes are small and black; each foot 

 has five toes, and the two outer ones are much shorter than those in 

 the centre. The two inner toes of the fore feet are long, sharp, and 

 well adapted to digging and scratching. From the extremity of the 

 nose to the end of the tail this animal measures one foot, five inches, 

 of which the tail occupies four inches. Notwithstanding the clum- 

 siness of his form, lie is remarkably active, and burrows in the ground 

 with great rapidity. These animals burrow, and reside in their little 

 subterraneous villages like the Burrowing Squirrel. To these apart- 

 ments, although six or eight usually associate together, there is but 

 one entrance. They are of great depth, and Captain Lewis once pur- 

 sued one to the depth of ten feet, and did not reach the end of the 

 burrow. He likewise poured into one of the holes five barrels of water 

 without filling it. The Prairie Dogs occupy, in this manner, several 

 hundred acres of ground. They generally select a southeasterly ex- 

 posure, on the side of a hill, for their villages ; and they sit with 



* Umfreville's Hudson's Bay, p. 171. 



