" The big moon was rising over the meadows." 



A muskrat's domestic life is erratic. Some- 

 times there will be a large village in the pond, 

 and, again, an autumn will pass without a 

 single new house being built. It may be 

 that some of the old houses will be fitted up 

 anew and occupied ; but I have known years 

 when there was not a house in the pond. At 

 no time do all of the muskrats build winter 

 houses. The walls of the meadow ditches jus*, 

 [39] 



