The Muskrat 8 3 
the thieves were, it was easy enough to trace them 
by the fragments of the leaves strewn along the way 
from the garden to their burrows. 
As I was curious to know what the muskrats had 
done with the vegetables, I opened a few of the bur- 
rows. Here I found the plunder snugly packed away, 
as though for winter use. The destruction of the 
garden was a neighborhood affair, for I traced the 
vegetables to burrows at least thirty rods away. It 
is worthy of note that, during the time the garden 
was being plundered by the muskrats, the greatest 
destruction occurred on cloudy nights, while on the 
morning following a clear night nothing would be 
missed. 
I was unable to determine why the muskrats were 
so destructive this particular autumn, and it seemed 
strange that they had never troubled the garden 
before. The number of muskrats trapped during the 
fall did not show an increase over previous years. 
The finding of the vegetables in the burrows natu- 
rally leads to the question, Do muskrats store food 
for winter use? I believe it is the exception when they 
do. I wish to relate an incident, although it is a 
seeming contradiction to the above statement. Not 
far from the garden and within two hundred feet 
of the creek stood a large apple tree. The apples 
