SMALLER MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA 



513 



arboreal in habits, and possibly in the remote 

 past the pressure of some ground-frequenting 

 enemy thus affected the hves of the red tree 

 mouse. An animal rarely makes an abrupt 

 change in its habits without direct pressure 

 from some source, and then only as a matter 

 of self-preservation. 



THE MUSKRAT (Fiber zibethicus and its 



relatives) 



{For illustration, see page 326) 



The muskrat, or "musquash," as it is widely 

 known in the northern fur country, is three or 

 four times the size of the common house rat, 

 to which it bears a superhcial resemblance. It 

 has a compactly formed body, short legs, and 

 strong hind feet partly webbed and otherwise 

 modified for swimming. The long, nearly 

 naked, and scaly tail is strongly flattened ver- 

 tically and in the water serves well as a rudder. 

 The fur is nearly as tine and dense as that of 

 the beaver and, as in that .animal, protects its 

 owner from the cold water in which so much 

 of its life is spent. 



Muskrats are peculiar to North America, 

 where they exist in great numbers. Aquatic in 

 habits, they have a wide distribution along 

 streams of all sizes and among marshes, ponds, 

 and lakes from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 

 from a little beyond the limit of trees on the 

 Arctic barrens south throughout most of the 

 United States. They reach our southern bor- 

 der at the delta of the Mississippi and the delta 

 of the Colorado, at the head of the Gulf of 

 California. 



Within this vast area they have been modi- 

 fied by their environment into several species 

 and geographic races, none of which difi^er 

 much in appearance from the well-known ani- 

 mal of the Eastern States. 



The nearest kin of the muskrats are the 

 short-tailed field mice, so numerous in our 

 damp meadows. Like the latter, the muskrat 

 has several litters of young each season. The 

 young are born blind, naked, and helpless, and 

 number from three to thirteen to a litter. This 

 great fecundity has enabled the muskrats to 

 hold their own through years of persistent 

 trapping. 



They still occupy practically all their original 

 range and yield a steady toll of valuable fur 

 each season. In 1914 more than 10,000,000 of 

 their skins were sold in London, and other 

 millions were handled in America. The aggre- 

 gate returns on muskrat skins are so great as 

 to constitute it our most valuable fur-bearer. 

 The furriers make its skins up in its natural 

 color or dress and dye it and give it the trade 

 names of "Hudson seal," "river mink," or 

 "ondatra mink." 



In suitable marshes, as on the eastern shore 

 of Maryland, muskrats become extremely abun- 

 dant and render such areas valuable as natural 

 "fur farms." One Maryland marsh containing 

 1,300 acres has yielded from $2,000 to $7,000 

 worth of skins a year. Not only are the skins 

 of value, but the flesh is palatable, and is sold 



readily under the trade name of "marsh rabl^it" 

 in the markets of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and 

 elsewhere. 



There is little doubt that owners of favor- 

 ably situated marshes could derive from them 

 a steady revenue by keeping them stocked with 

 proper food plants and protecting the muskrats 

 from their enemies. The value of these fur- 

 bearers is becoming more and more appreci- 

 ated and many States have laws restricting the 

 trapping season to a period in fall and winter 

 when the fur is prime. 



In marshes about shallow lakes or bordering 

 sluggish rivers muskrats build roughly conical 

 lodges or "houses," three to four feet high, 

 with bases, usually in shallow water, several 

 feet broader. These houses are made of roots 

 and stems of plants with a mixture of mud. 

 An oval chamber is left in the interior, well 

 above the water level, to which entrance is 

 gained by one or more passageways opening 

 under water. These shelters are mainly for 

 winter use, but the young are sometimes born 

 in them as well as in large grass nests among 

 dense marsh vegetation. 



The curious conical lodges are familiar ob- 

 jects about marshes in the Eastern and Norlh- 

 ern States, and I remember seeing, a few years 

 ago, a specially well - formed muskrat house 

 close to the historic bridge at Concord, and 

 others along the Concord River. Within ten 

 years muskrat houses were common in marshy 

 ponds in Potomac Park, Washington, where 

 the Lincoln Memorial Building now stands. 



Where the banks of streams or lakes rise 

 abruptly, the muskrats make their home in dry 

 chambers in the banks above water level at the 

 end of a tunnel opening either under water or 

 close to the water level. Worn trails lead up 

 the banks about such places and well-marked 

 runways are made through the heavy rerds 

 and marsh grasses in their haunts. 



Muskrats are mainly nocturnal animals, but 

 often move about during the day. I have seen 

 them repeatedly swimming close to the bank of 

 the Potomac a short distance above Washing- 

 ton. They like to carry their food to slightly 

 elevated points where they can overlook the 

 water along shore, such as the top of a project- 

 ing log, large stone, or earthen bank, from 

 which they plunge headlong at the first alarm. 

 Many a solitary canoeman gliding silently along 

 the shore of stream or pond at night has been 

 startled by the disproportionately loud splash 

 made by a muskrat diving from its resting 

 place. 



Their food consists mainly of the roots and 

 stems of succulent plants varied with fresh- 

 water clams, an occasional fish, and even by 

 cultivated vegetables grown in places readily 

 accessible from their haunts. They store up 

 roots and other vegetable matter for w'nter 

 use and remain active throughout that season. 

 The roots of which their "houses" are built are 

 frequently those used for food and sometimes 

 serve as winter supplies. 



As a rule, muskrats keep near their homes in 

 winter, making excursions here and there be- 

 neath the ice. Sometimes the water rises and 



