NOTES ON THE MAMMALS OF LAKE MAXINKUCKEE 21 



the gunner and his boat, a half-inch manila rope being used to hold 

 the box at anchor. On visiting the blind one morning hi October 

 more than a peck of fresh wet Chara was found in the box. The 

 amount was increased each night for the next few days until it con- 

 sisted of more than a bushel of material, almost wholly Chara. 

 One morning the box was missing and the next day it was found on 

 the east side of the lake where it had evidently been drifted by the 

 wind. An examination of the anchor rope disclosed the fact that 

 it had been gnawed in two by the Muskrat itself which thus set 

 its own home adrift. 



The materials which the Muskrat uses in constructing its winter 

 houses are chiefly various aquatic plants such as Chara, water 

 lilies (both white and yellow), Potamogeton, Myriophyllum, Cera- 

 tophyllum, Scirpus, Typha, Iris, and the like, and our observations 

 lead us to believe that they utilize at least some of this material as 

 food. Along with these various plants will often be found stems 

 and sticks of various sizes. In Lost Lake some of the houses con- 

 tain a considerable proportion of mud. 



During the summer the muskrats appear to subsist almost wholly 

 on vegetable matter. In the early fall they sometimes make forag- 

 ing trips to nearby gardens where they commit depredations on the 

 carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips and other succulent vegetables. 

 They also eat the seeds as well as the stems and roots of the yellow 

 and the white pond lilies. They gnaw the bark from the roots 

 and stems of Swamp Loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus) and the 

 Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) . Later in the fall and 

 during the winter animal food enters more largely into their menu. 

 We have found them feeding on dead coots and ducks that had 

 drifted ashore or which, wounded by some gunner, had escaped 

 among the weeds and sedges fringing the lake. They also feed on 

 turtles of various species which they find dead or which they them- 

 selves may kill. On several occasions we have found partly de- 

 voured turtles under circumstances which left no doubt as to what 

 had been feeding on them. December n, 1904, several dead 

 painted turtles and a few musk turtles were found near Norris 

 Inlet lying on their backs on the snow or ice, with the flesh wholly 

 or partly devoured, and Muskrat tracks leading to and from them 

 and all about. The most important element of the winter food of 



