now TO HUNT AXD CATCH THE MUSKEAT. 35 



banks, or tliey drown in their houses, being shut in by ice. 

 The materials used in building are roots and grass, and 

 mud, carried together by mouthfuls and completely pack- 

 ed ; pond lily tops, where they grow, form a large pait 

 of the house. They have a nice little chamber above the 

 water, where they sleep, with an aperture through which 

 they can dive into the water at any alaim from without ; 

 the house on the outside has the appearance of a heap of 

 lialf-rotten manure, with some sticks in it. These houses 

 they commence to build about the first of October, or 

 when frosty nights begin to prevail, and they abandon 

 them when warm weather comes again. This house- 

 building is a mutual thing ; if there were ten houses in a 

 pond, and you should destroy nine of them, they would 

 all go the tenth, and there, by carefully managing, you 

 might catch the whole. They eat the roots of aquatic 



»lants, calamus, pond lilies, etc., and are veiy fond of 

 ^resh water shell fish, especially the clam. So far as their 

 food goes, they do the farmer little damage. The name 

 muskrat is obviously derived from the strong odor of 

 musk. " Musquash " is said to be the Indian name, and 

 is preferable, for he is not a rat in any proper sense, but, so 



speak, a beaver on a small scale. I shall now try to tell 

 you how to successfully hunt and trap him. As soon as 

 the ice goes off in the spring, you should commence, as 

 his fur is then at its best. 



The muskrat drops liis dung on logs or sticks resting on 

 the bank, with one end in the water. When you find his 



