Muskrat 



557 



The Muskrat is much dishked by all dam-owners, includ- 

 ing Beavers, because it has a trick of digging through the earth 

 embankments. But in Manitoba there is no count against it; 

 it is an important asset to the Province, and the game guardians 

 are right in protecting it according to present law. 



The following is a remarkable case: During the fall of curious 

 1905 a trapper, Nelson Crane, living on the Oquago Creek, an ^'^^^ 

 affluent of the Delaware' River, Pennsylvania, was surprised 

 to see along the margin of the river the unmistakable track of 

 a hoofed animal whose feet were smaller than those of the 

 smallest African gazelle, each track being less than the tip of 

 a little finger; the stride was 2 inches, the straddle a little 

 over an inch. At many places very clear impressions were 

 seen, and left not the slightest doubt of it being a tiny, hoofed 

 quadruped of unknown species. 



One day, on going to a trap set for Mink, Crane found the 

 undoubted track of the 'pigmy Deer,' and in the trap, to his 

 amazement, one of the legs of the animal with the 

 hoofs. There was just enough of the leg to show 

 that it was nothing more than an abnormal Musk- 

 rat, the central toes of each foot having enormously 

 developed short claws which covered the point of 

 the toe and were indeed hoofs. The trapper sent 

 the foot to the Harrisburg State Museum. Through 

 the kindness of the curator. Professor H. A. Surface, 

 I have been able to examine and make the accompanying draw- 

 ing of this curiosity (Fig. 160). 



The animal itself has never been seen. 



Fig. 160— The 

 foot with the 

 tiny hoofs 

 (life size). 



