78 BUILDERS AND MINERS. 
water. Up in this dome, skilfully constructed, 
is his suite of apartments, the entrance to which 
is far below the surface of the water. His habits 
very nearly approximate those of the beaver: he 
swims about boldly in the daytime, but dives 
rapidly on the approach of danger. Ifa dead or 
badly-wounded duck be left on the pool, it is 
at once seized on, towed into the house, and 
devoured. 
Iam quite satisfied, from careful observation, 
that the Musk Rat is a carnivorous beast when- 
ever he has a chance; and the straight, sharp- 
cutting, strong incisor-teeth are well adapted for 
the indulgence of cannibal propensities. 
If there were no rushes growing where this 
mud-rover lived, it might be assumed that he 
dug a hole into the bank from lack of material 
to build a house; but I have often seen the 
rushes growing abundantly where he has chosen 
his mud hut, offering every facility for architec- 
tural pursuits, had he so willed. On the other 
hand, had the rush-builder been precluded from 
finding a mud-bank in which to construct his 
mansion, it might have been supposed that he 
had resorted to making a hut with rushes on that 
account. 
