The Fur Animals of Louisuma 281 



when the fight was interrupted and the injured male captured, the pelt 

 on his back had been so torn by the other male that a wound three 

 inches in diameter resulted. Upon another occasion a small male was 

 killed by a larger one. Other than these few cases we have witnessed 

 no fighting among the rats and we have kept as many as seven males 

 and females in one small pen. 



VOCAL NOISES 



"Muskrats have several different vocal noises. The young mice 

 squeak when cold, hungry, or otherwise uncomfortable in no uncertain 

 tones The sound is similar to other mouse squeaks but can be in- 

 creased considerably in volume. The adults often quarrel over then- 

 food when they are kept in close quarters and then the sound is a high- 

 pitched 'n-n-n-n-n-n.' When breeding, and sexually excited, both the 

 males and females emit the same sound, but faster and more emphatic, 

 so that it is not dissimilar to the noise made by a lot of very young 

 and hungry pigs. Sometimes, when badly injured in a trap, a rat will 

 give a low, moaning sound of great suffering, but most often they 

 endure pain in silence. Besides these purely vocal sounds, muskrats 

 have a chattering noise made with the teeth when they are nonplussed, 

 frightened or excited. This is occasioned most often when they are 

 captured or cornered. 



"An evident sign of affection is a habit the rats have of chewing 

 and combing each others' necks and backs. This has been observed 

 most irequently during breeding seasons, and is done by both males 

 and females. 



"Never have these muskrats been found to indulge in any sort of 

 game or play. They work most industriously and spend a great deal 

 of time washing and combing themselves, but refuse to run wheels or 

 invent any play of that kind. 



"From observations of rats in the field and in captivity, their senses 

 of hearing and smelling far exceed that of sight. Although they are 

 active chiefly when it is dark, yet when in captivity they have little 

 objection to artificial light and can be easily watched with a flashlight 

 Thev like plenty of range and when kept in small pens spend most ol 

 their time trying to escape, gnawing both wire and wood. We found 

 that they need hard foods, for when kept for any length of time on a 

 soft diet, their incisors grow out too long. They are curious animals 

 lor the most part, and frequently test an unknown object by nibbling 

 it. In fact, muskrats which have escaped from pens in the house have 

 nibbled at almost everything from Christmas cards to shotgun shells. 



FOODS 



"The marshes contain a great abundance of grasses and sedges, 

 the seasonal growth of which is such that there is plentifu and con 

 tinuous supply of vegetable food for muskrats all the year round. These 

 occur more or less abundantly in different sections of the state but 

 always to such extent in each marsh section as to form a conspicuous 

 part of the vegetation. In fact, most of them grow m pure ^stands of 

 considerable areas. The leaves, tender bases, young shoots, gi owing 

 tips and underground runners of these are eaten. 



"Although muskrats occasionally nibble and eat many other marsh 

 plants which are not of much abundance or importance the three- 

 sCares needle grasses and paille fine are the plants which compose 

 the muskrat's staple food supply in the marsh where he conducted most 

 of our investigations. The favorite foods eaten in captivity are, in order 



