550 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



over with his axe, disclosing a hve Rat with some of the food 

 it had been eating. The practice of building these little eating- 

 huts is by no means common, and does not seem to be resorted 

 to when the pond is of moderate dimensions, and all parts of 

 it can be reached from the house without difficulty." 



YOUNG The period of gestation is probably about 30 days. In 



Manitoba the young are born in mid-May. They number 4 

 to 9 and are naked, blind, and helpless. They are suckled 

 until three weeks or a month old. In Connecticut they begin 

 to venture out first about the middle of May. They are now 

 one-third grown and clad in fur of a peculiar leaden hue, quite 

 different from that of the parents. In Manitoba there are 

 commonly said to be 3 litters during the year, the first litter 

 of the year having young themselves early in the autumn. 



An interesting illustration of the young one's fearlessness 

 is furnished me by Dr. Gordon Bell. In late September, 

 1 90 1, at Lake Manitoba, he saw a young Muskrat about as 

 "big as a goose-egg" and probably one-fifth grown, on a rat- 

 house, eating a green rush. He picked it up, and it sat on his 

 hand, still eating. Presently he set it down again on its 

 house, where it continued feeding without fear or loss of time. 



This species does not usually lay up a supply of food in 

 * the sense that the Beaver does, yet the rat-raft and rat-house 

 both are closely connected with the quest of food. In the 

 winter it is obvious that the house is much eaten away from the 

 inside. While the roof is frozen this makes no difference, but 

 in the spring, when the frost gives, the top of the enlarged 

 chamber is apt to fall in. 



The filling up and digging is now resumed, for in many 

 cases the rat-house is the home of the young brood. 



JETTIES Muskrats frequently make jetties or landing places. 



These are little banks of mud along the marshy shore, a few 

 inches above the water. From the shallows near by the animal 

 gathers mud and weeds to make the jetty; this also serves to 

 deepen and clear the water, so that the owner can plunge in 



