THE WEATHER-WISE MUSKRAT 85 



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around the otlier side. Every mouthful was distinctly 

 defined. After they were two feet or more above the 

 water, I expected each day to see that the finishing 

 stroke had been given and the work brought to a 

 close. But higher yet, said the builder. December 

 drew near, the cold became threatening, and I was 

 apprehensive that winter would suddenly shut down 

 upon those unfinished nests. But the wise rats knew 

 better than I did ; they had received private advices 

 from headquarters that I knew not of. Finally, about 

 the 6th of December, the nests assumed comjjletion ; 

 the northern incline was absorbed or carried up, and 

 each structure became a strong massive cone, three or 

 four feet high, the largest nest of the kind I had ever 

 seen. Does it mean a severe winter? I inquired. An 

 old farmer said it meant " high water," and he was 

 right once, at least, for in a few days afterward we 

 had the heaviest rainfall known in this section for 

 half a century. The creeks rose to an almost unprece- 

 dented height. The sluggish pond became a seething, 

 turbulent watercourse ; gradually the angry element 

 crept up the sides of these lake dwellings, till, when 

 the rain ceased, about four o'clock they showed above 

 the flood no larger than a man's hat. During the 

 night the channel shifted till the main current swept 

 over them, and next day not a vestige of the nests was 

 to be seen ; they had gone down-stream, as had many 

 other dwellings of a less temporary character. The 

 rats had built wisely, and would have been perfectly 

 secure against any ordinary high water, but who can 

 foresee a flood ? The oldest traditions of their race 

 did not run back to the time of such a visitation. 



Nearly a week afterward another dwelling was 

 begun, well away from the treacherous channel, but 



