272 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



A cat — none too tame — was found prowling around 

 some trappers' cabins and was caught and taken to the 

 experimental farm, but in a few days disappeared. Later 

 Mr. Svihla found the tabby, very fat, lying in one of the 

 experimental pens, and, suspecting such circumstantial evi- 

 dence, she was placed in an observation pen with three 

 muskrat kits. Although the cat watched the young musk- 

 rats with interest when they ran close to her, she made 

 no move to attack them. The cat was then placed in a 

 cage with three full-grown wood rats (Neotamas) and the 

 reaction was instantaneous and only quick action on the 

 part of the observers saved the wood rats from death. 

 Later, when the cat was given ether, she was found to 

 contain two kittens about to be born, and a large woodrat, 

 which she had eaten, evidently very recently. 



In securing muskrat mice in the marsh and endeavoring 

 to feed them, they have frequently been given to cats with 

 suckling kittens. When the cat's own kittens were all taken 

 from her, the feline was always content to play wet-nurse 

 to the mice. Another cat, given five baby minks to raise, 

 refused to have anything to do with her own kittens, pre- 

 ferring the baby minks, although their sharp, pointed teeth 

 would make her wince when they were feeding. 



The natural enemies enumerated above, of course, are 

 not all that take a toll of the muskrats in our marshes, but 

 it is believed that all of the important ones have been 

 named. The field for further investigation of enemies, espe- 

 cially parasites, is a wide one, and much is yet to be learned. 



Vernon Bailey's views on the subject of enemies follow: 



"The Louisiana muskrat, unlike any other species, seems 

 to avoid open water and to be restricted to the broad marsh- 

 land away from the edges of the lakes, bayous, ditches, and 

 canals which cut these marshes into irregular sections, but 

 this distribution may be more apparent than real. All of 

 these open waters abound in alligators, many large and 

 carnivorous turtles, great numbers of huge garfish, often 

 five or six feet in length, and numerous sharks. Of these, 

 at least the alligators and turtles range back into the 

 marshes along the low places wherever a foot of water is 



