MUSKRAT 



be difficult of observation, to the casual observer they may be 

 best known by the houses they build of rushes and other 

 water-plants. These houses are built primarily as winter 

 homes and the summer nest may be an inconspicuous form of 

 grass. In some regions the animals make burrows into the 

 banks and have their nests above the level of the water, 

 but underground. Since the evidences of their presence are 

 very obvious, it is a simple matter for the trapper to find 

 places for his trap, and because the Rats enter a trap readily 

 large catches are easily made. 



The female Muskrat has several litters each year and the 

 litters are large. Hollister gives (for Maryland) three to 

 five litters annually and the number of young in a litter vary- 

 ing from three to twelve or more, — the average six or eight. 

 An animal with such potentialities for increase in numbers 

 might very well be a serious economic problem, except that its 

 food habits and choice of environment seldom bring it into 

 conflict with agricultural interests. 



The principal items in its diet are roots, bulbs and foliage 

 of aquatic plants, but occasionally it may visit truck-gardens 

 or standing grain. It has been noted feeding on animal food 

 such as fish and amphibians and it seems to be especially 

 fond of fresh-water mussels. 



One of the greatest causes of annoyance due to the presence 

 of Muskrats is the holes they dig in ditch-banks, retaining 

 dams, and earth structures, which lead to subsequent leaks 

 or floods. 



This Rat takes its name from the pronounced musky odor 

 given off by a pair of perineal glands. While penetrating in 

 character, this odor is not unpleasant. The Muskrat is 

 closely related to the Meadow Mouse, and in many respects is 

 only an enlarged and specialized edition of it ; but the genus 

 is peculiar in its general distribution, for it is found only in the 

 New World, whereas the Meadow Mice occur throughout the 

 Northern Hemisphere. 



Muskrat fur owes its value to the presence of a close, soft 

 undercoat which is normally concealed below the long, hard 

 guard-hairs. It is this short pelage which makes a water- 

 proof covering for the animal and which, when the long 

 hairs have been plucked by the furrier, bears a superficial 

 resemblance to the underfur of the Pur Seal. With such a 



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