NOTES BY THE WAY. 
I. THE WEATHER-WISE MUSKRAT. 
J am more than half persuaded that the muskrat 
is a wise little animal, and that on the subject of the 
weather, especially, he possesses some secret that I 
should be glad to know. In the fall of 1878 I noticed 
that he built unusually high and massive nests. I 
noticed them in several different localities. In a shal- 
low, sluggish pond by the roadside, which I used to 
pass daily in my walk, two nests were in process of 
construction throughout the month of November. The 
builders worked only at night, and I could see each 
day that the work had visibly advanced. When there 
was a slight skim of ice over the pond, this was broken 
up about the nests, with trails through it in different 
directions where the material had been brought. The 
houses were placed a little to one side of the main 
channel, and were constructed entirely of a species of 
coarse wild grass that grew all about. So far as I 
could see, from first to last they were solid masses 
of grass, as if the interior cavity or nest was to be 
excavated afterward, as doubtless it was. As they 
emerged from the pond they gradually assumed the 
shape of a miniature mountain, very bold and steep 
on the south side, and running down a long gentle 
grade to the surface of the water on the north. One 
could see that the little architect hauled all his ma- 
terial up this easy slope, and thrust it out boldly 
ienetip eet Anal tn manan re 
epithe we 
