570 HABITS OF THE MUSQUASH. 
them away to their subterranean storehouses. The maize they had procured by cutting 
the stalks near the level of the ground. 
The Ondatra lives mostly in burrows, which it digs in the banks of the river in which 
it finds its food, but sometimes takes up its abode in a different kind of habitation, 
according to the locality and the soil. In the stiff clay banks of rivers the Ondatra digs a 
rather complicated series of tunnels, some of them extending to a distance of fifteen or 
twenty yards, and sloping upwards. There are generally three or four entrances, all of 
which open under water, and unite in a single chamber, where the Ondatra makes its bed. 
The couch of the Inxurious animal is composed of sedges, water-lily leaves, and similar 
plants, and is so large as to fill a bushel basket. On marshy ground, and especially if it 
be supplied by springs, the Ondatra builds little houses that rise about three or four feet 
above the water, and look something like small haycocks. 
As the fur of the Ondatra is rather valuable, and the flesh is considered to be nearly as 
good as that of the wild duck, it is rather persecuted by the human inhabitants of the same 
land, as well as by the regular fur hunters. If these creatures have taken up their abode in 
burrows, the hunters capture them by stopping up all the holes which they ean reach, and 
intercepting the animals as they try to escape; but if the ground be marshy, and they live 
in houses or “lodges,” a different plan is adopted. Being armed with a four- -pronged barbed 
spear, the hunter creeps quietly towards one of the houses, and with the full strength of 
his arm drives the barbed prongs completely through the frail walls, transfixing one or 
more of the inhabitants. His companion, who is furnished with an axe, immediately 
hurls down the remainder of the wall, and secures the unfortunate victims who are held 
down by the merciless steel. 
The habits of the Ondatra are very curious, and are admirably related by Messrs. 
Audubon and Bachman, in the work to which allusion has already been made :— 
“Musk Rats are very lively, playful, animals when in their proper element, the water ; 
and many of them may be occasionally seen disporting themselves on a calm night in 
some muill-pond or deep sequestered pool, crossing and recrossing in every direction, 
leaving long ripples in the water behind them, while others stand for a few moments on 
little hurdles or tufts of grass, or on stones or ‘logs, on which they can get a footing above 
the water, or on the banks of the pond, and then plunge one after the other into the 
water. At times one is seen lying perfectly still on the surface of the pond or stream, 
with its body widely spread out, and as flat as can be. Suddenly it gives the water a 
smart slap with its tail, somewhat in the manner of the beaver, and disappears beneath 
the surface instantancously, going down head foremost, and reminding one of the quick- 
ness and ease with which some species of ducks and grebes dive when shot at. 
At the distance of ten or twenty yards, the Musk ‘Rat comes to the surface again, and 
perhaps joins its companions in their sports ; at the same time others are feeding on the 
eessy banks, dragging off the roots of various kinds of plants, or digging underneath 
the edge of the bank. These animals seem to form a little community of social, playful 
creatures, who only require to be unmolested in order to be happy. 
Should you fire off a fowling-piece while the Musk Rats are thus occupied, a terrible 
fright and dispersion ensues ; dozens dive at the flash of the gun, or disappear in their 
holes; and although in the daytime, when they see imperfectly, one may be shot while 
swimming, it is exceedingly difficult to kill one at night. In order to ensure success, the 
gunner must be concealed, so that the animal cannot see the flash, even when he fires with 
a percussion lock.” 
Traps are also largely employed for the destruction of this gentle but, unfortunately 
for itself, valuable animal. The traps are so arranged, that when the creature is taken, 
and struggles to get free, it jerks the trap into the water, and is thus drowned. If its 
companions discover it while still entrapped, they behave in the manner of the brown 
Rats, and tear their imprisoned companion to pieces. If one of these animals is shot, and 
not immediately retrieved, the survivors surround the dead body of their companion, and 
carry it off to their homes from the reach of its murderer. In character it is quiet and 
gentle, and although armed with such powerful teeth, makes no offensive use of them, even 
When handled by man for the first time, 
