126 PEPACTON 



THE WEATHERWISE MUSKRAT 



I am more than half persuaded that the muskrat 

 is a wise little animal, and that on the subject of 

 the weather, especially, he possesses some secret 

 that I should be glad to know. In the fall of 

 1878 I noticed that he built unusually high and 

 massive nests. I noticed them in several different 

 localities. In a shallow, sluggish pond by the road- 

 side, which I used to pass daily in my walk, two 

 nests were in process of construction throughout the 

 month of November. The builders worked only at 

 night, and I could see each day that the work had 

 visibly advanced. When there was a slight skim 

 of ice over the pond, this was broken up about the 

 nests, with trails through it in different directions 

 where the material had been brought. The houses 

 were placed a little to one side of the main channel, 

 and were constructed entirely of a species of coarse 

 wild grass that grew all about. So far as I could 

 see, from first to last they were solid masses of 

 grass, as if the interior cavity or nest was to be 

 excavated afterward, as doubtless it was. As they 

 emerged from the pond they gradually assumed the 

 shape of a miniature mountain, very bold and steep 

 on the south side, and running down a long, gentle 

 grade to the surface of the water on the north. One 

 could see that the little architect hauled all his 

 material up this easy slope, and thrust it out boldly 

 around the other side. Every mouthful was dis- 

 tinctly defined. After they were two feet or more 



