THE MUSKRAT 101 



mud by these animals which have been more successful collectors 

 than himself." 22 



While the muskrat does secure some air under the ice, in feeding 

 it must reach the outer air. Sometimes food is eaten in the houses, 

 which are not air-tight, while a large portion of the winter food 

 is eaten near air holes in the ice, which, as has been said before, 

 are kept open by constant use. 



The summer fare of the muskrat includes greater variety and 

 is made up of roots, stems, leaves and fruit of aquatic plants, sup- 

 plemented by other fruits and vegetables from adjacent fields. 

 Garden vegetables are in great favor and onions, cabbage, celery, 

 carrots, parsnips, beets, peas, etc., are subject to attack with con- 

 siderable resultant damage. At Chariton, Adel, and Marengo 

 damage is reported to have been done to green corn, especially in 

 fields bordering streams. In addition to the mollusks above re- 

 ferred to, muskrats occasionally feed on the bodies of dead wild 

 birds, and have been known to attack wounded or trapped in- 

 dividuals of their own kind. It is said that when food is scarce 

 they will kill and eat members of their own community. 



The food collected by the muskrat in summer is usually eaten 

 at the edge of the water, in many instances while the captor is 

 sitting on the end of a log, or on a pile of driftwood. 



The muskrat is distributed over most of the state, though dur- 

 ing the past four or five 'years the numbers have been steadily 

 on the decrease owing to the extensive trapping and to the draining 

 of marshes and ponds. In Kossuth, Carroll, Hardin, Calhoun, 

 Emmett, Winnebago, and other counties of the state in which con- 

 siderable areas have been drained, the number of these animals 

 has been materially reduced. In both Emmett and Palo Alto 

 counties more than one hundred county drainage ditches have been 

 constructed within the past few years. This extensive system of 

 drainage has driven out the muskrats but of course many thousands 

 of acres of exceedingly fertile land have been opened to cultiva- 

 tion. Outside of the counties above mentioned, considerable num- 

 bers of the animals have been reported from Dickinson, Franklin, 

 Lucas, Dallas, Iowa, and Dubuque counties. Bergman Island, in 

 the Mississippi river near McGregor, supports many houses of 

 the muskrat. M. X. Geske of McGregor informs the writer that 

 in the spring of 1914 he counted forty-two houses in one slough 



^Kermicott, Robert, Illinois Agr. Kept, for 1856 : U. S. Patent Office Kept., 

 106, 1857. 



