fall, and perhaps subsequently gnaw out as much 

 from the inside as they add to the exterior. The 

 walls are made of grass and sedge roots, together 

 with spatter-docks and bur-reeds. During the 

 summer you might not suspect the presence of 

 one, hidden as they are in the cattails and rank 

 growth of sedge. As the vegetation dies down in 

 autumn, the huts loom proportionately, so that 

 they come prominently into view by November; 

 and then, on some fine cold morning, in place of 

 the reedy pond, appears a sheet of ice with isolated 

 domes rising here and there. From these, the 

 muskrat and his family travel to their feeding- 

 grounds. They have chosen their estate at the 

 bottom of the pond rich lands for which none 

 contend with them. 



In fact our wild neighbors all live in a dim 

 world of shadows, in which they lurk like phan- 

 toms. They have retreated into the night, and 

 for days together you may not meet one. But 

 the new fallen snow reveals their presence. 



152 



