186 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



much distance from the water. Its buiTOw, in summer, is in the banks 

 of a stream or pond, and it has an opening beneath to the water, through 

 which it always retreats at the first sign of danger; in winter it builds 

 a large nest of grass, sedge, and the leaves and stalks of the water lilly. 

 This nest is not open on any side, the entrance being from beneath, into 

 the water. Its food consists principally of the roots of water plants, 

 and fresh water clams, but it is sometimes omnivorous ; the numbers of 

 the clams which it destroys are very great, quantities of the shells often 

 being found lying on the banks of the streams and ponds frequented by 

 this animal. In the spring, when the rivers are swollen, the nests of the 

 musk rats being flooded, the animals are often shot in great numbers 

 by gunners in boats. I have known instances where a boat full, the 

 results of one day's sport, richly repaid the hunter. 



The Musk Rat, in this State, can hardly be called injurious to the 

 farmer, but it does, sometimes, considerable mischief in burrowing in 

 milldams, the water forcing its way in, sometimes carries away the 

 entire dam. The young, from three to six or seven, are born in the 

 spring. I have found young ones in a nest, in February. I am not 

 aware that it has more than one litter in a year ; they live with the 

 old ones through the first winter. Sometimes the ice beneath and around 

 their home becomes so thick that it is impossible for them to effect an 

 egress, when the weakest furnish food for the others, successively, the 

 strongest being the survivor. 



Description. — Body thick ; eyes small ; ears nearly concealed in the 

 adjacent fur ; limbs short ; hind-feet large, with five toes webbed for 

 half their length ; fore-feet, with four toes and a rudimentary thumb, 

 with a claw half as large as those on the fingers, which are webbed at 

 their bases ; all the feet naked beneath ; tail compresseU laterally, 

 cylindrical at its base, and covered with small scales with very short, scant 

 hairs between them ; fur, two kinds, a very soft, thick fur next to the 

 skin, with a long, hairy fur extending beyond it ; color of the basal fur, 

 gray, tipped with bright brown ; this is the color beneath the body ; the 

 outer, hairy fur of the back and sides is dark brown ; beneath the chin 

 and throat, ashy ; feet dark brown. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length of head, 3 inches. 

 Length of head and body, 13 inches. 

 Length of tail, 10 inches. 

 Length of hind-foot, 3 inches. 

 Length of fore-foot, 1| inch. 



