54 RAMBLES OF 



The burrows of muskrats are very extensive, and con- 

 sequently injurious to dykes and dams, meadow banks, 

 &c. The entrance is always under water, and thence 

 sloping upwards above the level of the water, so that the 

 muskrat has to dive in going in and out. These crea- 

 tures are excellent divers and swimmers, and being noc- 

 turnal are rarely seen unless by those who watch for 

 them at night. Sometimes we alarm one near the mouth 

 of the den, and he darts away across the water, near the 

 bottom, marking his course by a turbid streak in the 

 stream : occasionally we are made aware of the passage 

 of one to some distance down the current in the same 

 way ; but in both cases the action is so rapidly performed, 

 that we should scarcely imagine what was the cause, if 

 not previously informed. Except by burrowing into and 

 spoiling the banks, they are not productive of much evil, 

 their food consisting principally of the roots of aquatic 

 plants, in addition to shellfish. The musky odour, which 

 gives rise to their common name, is caused by glandular 

 organs placed near the tail, filled with a viscid and power- 

 fully musky fluid, whose uses we know but little of, 

 though it is thought to be intended as a guide by which 

 these creatures may discover each other. This inference 

 is strengthened by finding some such contrivance in dif- 

 ferent races of animals, in various modifications. A 

 great number carry it in pouches similar to those just 

 mentioned. Some, as the musk animal, have the pouch 

 under the belly; the shrew has the glands on the side; 



