CONTENTS— Continued 



Fage 



Breeding habits 223 



Scent glands 228 



Muskrat voices 228 



Sex determination 230 



Food 232 



Food planting 240 



Foods, soils and Muskrats 242 



Importance of humus 245 



Habits 246 



The Muskrat as an engineer 248 



In levee banks 252 



Muskrat houses 2 55 



Feeding platforms 259 



Marsh fires 262 



Enemies 265 



Muskrat meat as food 273 



Utilization of carcasses -75 



Chapter Twenty-one 



The Field Biologist's Report 277 



Fighting - s " 



Vocal noises 281 



Foods 281 



Feeding experiments 282 



Houses and runways 283 



Sanitation 285 



Breeding 286 



Enemies 287 



Chapter Twenty-two 



'Rat Ranching 288 



Definition 298 



'Rat ranching in Maryland 300 



Maryland's "Black" Muskrat 302 



Fur production on refuges 306 



Delacroix Island region 313 



Ditching with dynamite 318 



Trappers' associations 322 



Control methods of breeding 324 



Introduction of Muskrats 332 



Foods 334 



Recovery after storms 336 



Chapter Twenty-three 



Fur Farming of Muskrats 341 



Chapter Twenty-four 



Trapping Methods 351 



Chapter Twenty-five 



Ecology of the Louisiana Muskrat lands 365 



Chapter Twenty-six 



The Different Muskrat Furs 372 



Chapter Twenty-seven 



Grading Fur Pelts 387 



Chapter Twenty-eight 



Skinning, Curing and Shipping Furs 403 



Appendix — 



Comparative takes of fur animals 408 



Fur production of Canada 413 



List of references 423 



Systematic list of Louisiana fur animals 12;» 



The Creating of Wild Life Refuges in Louisiana 439 



3X1!* 



