206 EEPOET OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



but that it would be the best means of ensuring the perpetuation of the 

 beaver and of deriving the greatest poissible benefit from its existence for 

 the public. 



The value of fur rests not only om the beauty and durability of tilie 

 pelt, but in a large measure, also, on its comparative abundance. Some 

 pelts, indeed, which are very scarce, fetch almost imcredible sunns on the 

 open market. Nevertheless there can be little question that the sum 

 total of the trade occurring in the pelt of the least individual value, that 

 of the muskrat, is going, or has come, to outstrip in value that of any 

 other fur-bearing creature found in the Province. The muskrat therefore 

 is worthy of especial conKideration, Like many other fur-bearing ani- 

 mals it is afforded some measure of protection, the taking of it between 

 May 1 and December 1 being prohibited, as likewise the shooting of it 

 during the month of April and the spearing of it at any time, while it is 

 also enacted that the muskrat house may not be cut, speared, broken, or 

 destroyed at any time. The creature itself is about four times the size 

 of an ordinary brown rat, with a tail, compressed, thickest about the 

 middle line and tapering to a rather acute point, about two-thiids as 

 long as the head and body. Except the beaver no other fur-bearing 

 animal of the Province leads a more aquatic life. Its feet are specialized 

 for swimming; its fur waterproof; and its tail serves as an efficient 

 rudder. The muskrat derives its name from the peculiar musky odour 

 given off chiefly b}^ its large perineal glandis, AMhich odour to some extent 

 per-vades the whole skin, particularly in the summertime. While 

 ichiefly nocturnal in habits the little creature, where seldom disturbed, 

 may be seen at work in briglit sunlight, especially when constructing 

 winter hcxuses. These houses are for the most part constructed' of rushes, 

 grasses, roots and stems of aquatic plants, heaped up without orderly 

 arrangement until the dome-like top riises from 18 inches to 2 or 3 feet 

 above the water. The mud often seen on the outside of the houses seems 

 to be collected accidentally with the roots. In the portion of the house 

 above water an interior chamber is constructed from which two or three 

 pasisages lead downwards to points below the frost line in the water. 

 These houses are mainly for winter shelter and the storage of food, and 

 as a rule are inhabited by one family only, though sometimes, when ice 

 or frozen ground prevents the use of burrows, a larger number will tem- 

 porarily find accommodation in them. In banks of streams and ponds 

 the muskrats will cons;truct burrows, the entrance usually being under 

 water at a sufficient depth to prevent their being closed by ice, the bur- 

 row® extending from 10 to 50 feet into the bank, and terminating in a 

 rough chamber in whieh sometimes is to be found a nest composed of 

 dried vegetation. When burrows are available the muskrat occupies 

 them in winter and summer, but Tsihere water is shallow in ponds and 

 marshes the entrances will often be closed by ice and the creatures 

 forced to make use of the houses. As cold weather approaches they 

 become very active, building, adding to their houses, deepening the 



