Muskrat 



The muskrat, on the contrary, quickly learned to profit by 

 the settlement of the country and the consequent thinning of his 

 natural enemies, and though hunted and trapped persistently for 

 several months in the year, still refuses to be driven away, and 

 may be found in colonies perfectly undisturbed by the jarring 

 racket of a sawmill or the smoke of a factory chimney, evi- 

 dently willing to put up with some of the nuisances of civili- 

 /ation, in order to take advantage of the ponds dammed back 

 by man for his own personal use, and which, unlike the beaver, 

 the muskrat has apparently never learned to make for himself. 



The adobe cabins of the muskrat are, however, very similar 

 and often practically identical except in dimensions to those of 

 the beaver. When in the late fall the long cold nights and in- 

 creasing cloudiness foretell the coming snows and ice-locked 

 streams of winter, the muskrats erect these lodges to serve both 

 as living rooms and as air chambers to which they may bring 

 the freshwater clams and lily roots that they dig up from the 

 bottom when working at a distance from their burrows in the 

 bank. If possible, they prefer to begin the work when the water 

 is not very high. 



On flat grassy reaches half overflowed they dig up sods, the 

 size of a man's fist, sometimes arranging them in a little circle 

 to hold back the water while they are at work inside, sinking 

 a shallow well down into what will be the bed of the stream 

 when the water gets higher. At a depth of a foot or more 

 they hollow out a sort of chamber and from this make several 

 radiating tunnels or subways, some of which reach well up into 

 the high bank rods away and above high-water mark if pos- 

 sible, where the nest chamber is placed just under the turf or 

 the protecting roots of a tree. Other tunnels extend in an op- 

 posite direction to the deepest parts of the channel that never 

 freeze. 



The sods and mud removed are piled up about the original 

 opening in a more or less dome-shaped heap, which usually contains 

 two rooms, one at the bottom partly or quite submerged, the 

 other above it and a little to one side, ventilated at the top, 

 and with a short passage leading down to the first. 



In this way they are sure of a thoroughfare from their nest 

 in the bank to the bottom of the stream, with a breathing-place 



123 



