THE EDUCATIONAL HUMANE SOCIETY 



329 



verbial fly, and were not to be deceived 



by such alluring inducements. 



All the autumn I watched the little 

 settlement, and each day there was 

 new evidence that the night had been 



MR. LOCKWOOD STUDYING A MUSKRAT 

 HOUSE. 



a busy one, and that little time had 

 been wasted in putting the homes in 

 shape and gathering the food supply 

 for the winter. It was during this busy 

 stage that the trappers managed to 

 wade out to the house photographed by 

 Dr. Bigelow, and set several traps at 

 the base where the dwellers had to 

 travel in reaching the tops of their 

 homes. Each morning there was a rat 

 in the trap, but the third morning I 

 noticed that in place of the trap there 

 was a mound of dirt. Investigating, 

 it was discovered that during the night 

 the colony had got together and com- 

 pletely buried the trap, and had put 

 the finishing touches on the top of their 

 home. 



However, it was not until the long 

 days of February that the real damage 

 was done. The ice had already frozen 

 the little pond over solid, enabling the 

 trappers to reach the houses. All were 

 torn apart and the little fellows were 

 robbed of both shelter and homes. 



I >espite this hardship the trappers 

 did not succeed in exterminating them, 

 and when the first signs of spring ap- 

 peared in the lowlands, and the little 



reams were swollen by the heavy 

 March rains, a few gaunt, lean mem- 

 bers from the thrifty homes crept from 

 their dwellings and again started the 

 tight for an existence. They were on 

 the verge of starvation and a few fell 

 an easy victim to the tempting lure of 

 the apple on some cunningly baited 

 trap. 



The following fall they were again in 

 thriving shape, and many of the 

 houses had been rebuilt, but again the 

 trappers were on the scene and during 

 the winter tore down their houses. 

 Many of the rats they caught that fall 

 and winter had but three legs ; the 

 fourth having been left in the steel 

 jaws of a trap, and the stub mark of 

 the fourth was often seen in the soft 

 mud. 



John Burroughs has stated that the 

 muskrat will always gnaw his leg off 

 to get out of a steel trap. From my 

 observations and that of old trappers 

 who have caught thousands of musk- 

 rats, he is mistaken. The smallest 

 steel trap made (No. o) will break the 

 pipe-like stem of a muskrat's leg, and 

 then by a series of evolutions he twists 

 the skin and flesh apart, gaining his 

 freedom. I have seen a rat twist his 

 leg out in this manner in less than a 

 minute by a series of revolutions about 

 the trap. 



A man who has trapped in the Maine 

 woods told me he saw the same thing 

 accomplished. Other trappers have 

 told me that they never have seen a 

 rat or signs where a rat has gnawed 

 his leg out, but always found the tell- 

 tale twisted ligaments, and skin. 



It was the third autumn when I 

 again visited the scene, and long after 

 I thought the last inhabitant of the 

 little village had been caught. To my 

 surprise. I saw the old familiar tracks 

 that had been watched so closely, and 

 surely enough three of the houses were 

 being' built up again. It was plain that 

 they had survived, and that it took 

 more to discourage them than I ever 

 dreamed of. 



