250 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



feeding spots where the grass or sedges are cut and eaten, 

 or roots brought up to be eaten. Other openings are used 

 in bringing out mud for plastering up the houses, and still 

 others are exits to cool beds of grass or sods under a dense 

 cover of vegetation, which, at least in summer, take the 

 place of houses. 



"In many cases the burrows are closed from within, 

 definitely plugged up with mud or turf to keep out light 

 and enemies, but this habit has not become so firmly fixed 

 as in the pocket gophers and many other rodents. The 

 burrows opening into the light, or exposed, places are more 

 often closed than those under a good cover of grass. 



"The muskrats are exceedingly timid and cautious, 

 quickly leaving any place that is disturbed or trampled, 

 or a house that is opened or injured. Still they are so nu- 

 merous that they soon come back, or others come in where 

 some are scared away, and even after a house had been 

 opened up for examination, they sometimes return to it and 

 make repairs on the second or third night. In other cases 

 they do not return for a long time, if at all. They seem 

 never to come near any trap that is not under water and 

 show surprising intelligence for any rodent in avoiding 

 traps." 



The designation "bank muskrat" is frequently heard in 

 discussing certain of these animals. This is supposed to 

 be in contradistinction to the "marsh" or "house" muskrat, 

 and some people believe that there are two species of musk- 

 rats with different modes of living. This is not borne out by 

 investigation, which shows conclusively that these little fur 

 animals use home building materials that are most easily 

 secured. If they inhabit a marsh they gather the stems of 

 various species of vegetation. This is because the habitat 

 is where there are no banks and a preponderance of vege- 

 tation. When these same animals inhabit a country where 

 there are streams and high banks, they will excavate a hole 

 and construct a den if vegetation is scarce. 



In Louisiana there are few streams of this character in 

 the lowlands of the coastal territory and as has been pointed 

 out before, our muskrats are confined to the marshes bor- 



