CHAPTER IV 

 PROFIT FROM THE MUSKRAT 



IN Europe some of the best-known species of 

 meadow-mouse are large and aquatic, as, for 

 example, the common water-rat of England. 

 Of the same sort, on a larger scale, is our 

 American muskrat a huge, water-dwelling 

 vole with a tail compressed into a sculling-oar, 

 whose appearance and manner of life are fa- 

 miliar to most of us. 



Mischief done by muskrats. In the Eastern 

 States muskrats do little damage, although 

 everywhere abundant, except occasionally by 

 opening a dike that protects a New England 

 salt-meadow from high tides. West of the Al- 

 leghanies, however, they often cause great an- 

 noyance to the owners of canals and reservoirs 

 by their burrowing; and frequently enter gar- 

 dens near the water-side and devour fruit and 

 vegetables to a considerable extent, while corn- 

 fields sometimes suffer much when the corn 

 76 



