556 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



indeed it somewhat resembles duck, but in the spring it is so 

 impregnated with musk as to be quite unfit for food. 



When they are to be eaten, Muskrats are commonly shot, 

 but the trap and the spear onlyare used when it is taken for fur. 

 SPEAR The rat-spear is a 3-foot rod of half or f inch iron, very 



slightly barbed near the tip and set in a long handle. The 

 hunter either approaches the rat-house gently and drives the 

 spear through house and all, impaling one or sometimes two 

 of the occupants, or he taps the house, causing them to skim 

 away under the ice. If this is new and clear, he can drive the 

 spear through ice and Rat. A hatchet is then used to enlarge 

 the hole and kill the victim after it is pulled out. 



I have seen the spear driven through 4I inches of new, 

 hard ice and into a Muskrat which was thus secured. 



FUR The fur of the creature is of good quality and on a strong 



skin. Notwithstanding its low market value, it is one of the 

 most important staples in Manitoba, for a skilful trapper can 

 catch 50 to 100 in a day during the times of plenty. 



This peltry is always in demand. At Winnipeg, March 

 26, 1904, it was thus quoted: Prime winter, 3 cents to 12 

 cents; prime spring, 6 cents to 20 cents. The black Musk- 

 rats are of higher value. But the abundance of the species 

 and the certainty of the catch is sufficient to off^set these low 

 values, and there is no falling off in the business. As early 

 as 1822, the Hudson's Bay Company exported 150,000 Musk- 

 rat skins annually. Since then the numbers have steadily in- 

 creased, and during 1905, 3,466,429 were marketed in London. 



At the London Annual Fur Sales, held at Lampson's, 

 March, 1906, there were sold 1,074,550 Muskrat and 11,655 

 black Muskrat. The highest price paid for common Muskrat 

 was 2id (42c.) each for 2,200 first-class skins, but 10^ (20c.) 

 and lid (24c.) were more usual prices, and down to 6d (12c.) 

 for third-class skins (shot and damaged). Black Muskrat 

 brought as high as 43^ (86c.) for 430 skins first-class and 

 second-class mixed, and from that down to 10^ (20c.) for skin, 

 with 20^ (40C.) and 30^ (6oc.) for fair prices. 



