AMONG THE MUSKRAT LODGES 



the crystal depths. Soon he will abandon 

 the winter houses, which as soon as the 

 frost leaves them will sag and flatten and 

 begin to sink into the bog itself, building 

 its outer edge a little firmer here and 

 there, and thus helping it in its yearly en- 

 croachment on the pond itself. As the 

 ages have gone by, Mussascus has been a 

 pretty potent factor in this encroachment. 

 As the beaver has been a maker of 

 ponds and a conserver of streams, hold- 

 ing and delaying their waters with his 

 dams, so the muskrat has helped in the 

 making of meadows and the sanding 

 and grading of pond edges. The first is 

 done by his winter nests, the second by 

 his summer burrows which start under 

 water at the pond edge and slant along 

 near the surface for thirty to fifty feet. 

 Many cubic yards of sand and loam are 

 dug from these burrows and spread along 

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