464 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 



The most interesting and unique situation selected by a musk- 

 rat for its house ever seen by us was a large dry-goods box which 

 a duck-hunter had anchored in Outlet Bay for use as a blind from 

 which to shoot ducks. The box was anchored some distance from 

 shore with the open side toward the shore. Bushes with leaves 

 still on were stuck in the lake about the box to aid in concealing 

 the gunner and his boat, a half-inch manila rope being used to hold 

 the box at anchor. On visiting the blind one morning in October 

 more than a peck of fresh wet Chara was found in the box. The 

 amount was increased each night for the next few days until it 

 consisted of more than a bushel of material, almost wholly Chara. 

 One morning the box was missing and the next day it was found on 

 the east side of the lake where it had evidently been drifted by the 

 wind. An examination of the anchor rope disclosed the fact that 

 it had been gnawed in two by the Muskrat itself which thus set 

 its own home adrift. 



The materials which the Muskrat uses in constructing its winter 

 houses are chiefly various aquatic plants such as Chara, water 

 lilies (both white and yellow) , Potamogeton, Myriophyllum, Cera- 

 tophyllum, Scirpus, Typha, Iris, and the like, and our observations 

 lead us to believe that they utilize at least some of this material 

 as food. Along with these various plants will often be found 

 stems and sticks of various sizes. In Lost Lake some of the 

 houses contain a considerable proportion of mud. 



During the summer the muskrats appear to subsist almost 

 wholly on vegetable matter. In the early fall they sometimes make 

 foraging trips to nearby gardens where they commit depredations 

 on the carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips and other succulent vege- 

 tables. They also eat the seeds as well as the stems and roots of 

 the yellow and the white pond lilies. They gnaw the bark from 

 the roots and stems of Swamp Loosestrife {Decodon vertic Hiatus) 

 and the Buttonbush (CejJhalanthus occidefitalis) . Later in the 

 fall and during the winter animal food enters more largely into 

 their menu. We have found them feeding on dead coots and ducks 

 that had drifted ashore or which, wounded by some gunner, had 

 escaped among the weeds and sedges fringing the lake. They also 

 feed on turtles of various species which they find dead or which 

 they themselves may kill. On several occasions we have found 

 partly devoured turtles under circumstances which left no doubt 

 as to what had been feeding on them. December 11, 1904, several 

 dead painted turtles and a few musk turtles were found near Nor- 

 ris Inlet lying on their backs on the snow or ice, with the flesh 

 wholly or partly devoured, and Muskrat tracks leading to and from 



