LAKE DWELLERS. 187 



still continues plentiful in Eastern America in spite of 

 the immense numbers of skins exported every year. The 

 Indians are ever on the look-out for them on the banks 

 of the alluvial rivers entering the Bay of Fundy, in which 

 they especially abound, and in every settler's barn may be 

 seen their jackets expanded to dry. 



Their little flattened oval nests, composed of bents 

 and sedges, are of frequent occurrence by lake margins ; 

 and very shallow grassy ponds are sometimes seen dotted 

 with them quite thickly. On the muddy banks of rivers 

 their holes are as numerous as those of the Europe^in 

 water-rat, the entrance just under the surface of the 

 water, and generally marked by a profusion of the shells 

 of the fresh-water mussel. They are vegetable feeders, 

 with, I believe, this solitary exception, though I am sorry 

 to have to record, from my own experience, that can- 

 nibalism is a not unfrequent trait when in confinement. 



To the canoe-voyageur, or the fisherman on the forest- 

 lakes, the appearance of the musk rat, sailing round in 

 the calm water on the approach of sunset, when in fine 

 summer weather the balmy west wind almost invariably 

 dies away and leaves the surface with faithful reflections 

 of the beautiful marginal foliage of the woods, is one of 

 the most familiar and pleasing sights of nature. Coming 

 forth from their home in some shady, lily-bearing cove, 

 they gambol round in the open lake in widening circles, 

 apparently fearless of the passing canoe, now and then 

 diving below the surface for a few seconds, and re- 

 appearing with that grace and freedom from splash, on 

 leaving and regaining the surface, which characterise the 

 movements both of this animal and of the beaver. 



Travelling down the Shubenacadie and other gently- 



