NOTES BY THE WAY. 



I. THE WEATHER-WISE 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 shal- 

 low, sluggish pond by the roadside, 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 ma- 

 terial up this easy slope, and thrust it out boldly 



