554 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



parallel with a swimming Muskrat, I should say that its 

 ordinary rate is not above a mile an hour. 



FOOD The food of the species is chiefly vegetable matter. The 



bleached ends of long reeds, lilies, stalks, and roots of flags 

 are staples. But there is not the least doubt that it will eat 

 clams, fish, insects, and even young birds, when it can catch 

 them in the water. 



Richardson, writing at Churchill River (103° W. Long.), 

 in 1848, says* of one Muskrat food: 



"The A corns calamus is another of the indigenous plants 

 that enter into the native pharmacopcEia, and is used as a 

 remedy in colic. About the size of a small pea of the root, 

 dried before the fire or in the sun, is a dose for an adult, and 

 the pain is said to be removed soon after it is masticated and 

 swallowed. When administered to children, the root is rasped, 

 and the filings swallowed in a glass of water, or of weak tea with 

 sugar. A drop of the juice of the recent root is dropped into 

 inflamed eyes, and the remedy is said to be an effectual though 

 a painful one. I have never seen it tried. The Cree name for 

 the plant is watchuske mitsu in, or * that which the Muskrat 

 eats.'" 



STORAGE Although not usually credited with storing up food for 

 winter, the Muskrats do so at times. All through the summer, 

 from at least the first of June, they may be seen carrying great 

 bundles of green stuff into their dens. If intended for bedding, 

 it seems to show very poor judgment on the part of the Rats, 

 but it ends well, for they commonly eat these piles when they 

 have need of them. This is indeed one kind of storage, but 

 the species is known to carry out the idea on a much higher 

 plane, as shown in the following by Dr. Charles A. Eastman:^ 

 "When our people [Sioux] were gathering the wild rice 

 [Minnesota] they always watched for another plant that grows 

 in the muddy bottom of lakes and ponds. It is a white bulb 

 about the size of an ordinary onion. This is stored away by 



* Arctic Search. Exp. (of 1848), 1851, Vol. I., pp. 82-3. 



* Indian Boyhood, 1902, pp. 239-40. 



