86 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



the architects did not work at it with much heart; 

 the material was very scarce, the ice hindered, and be- 

 fore the basement-story was fairly finished, winter had 

 the pond under his lock and key. 



In other localities I noticed that where the nests 

 were placed on the banks of streams, they were made 

 secure against the floods by feeing built amid a small 

 ©lump of bushes. When the fall of 1879 came, the 

 inuskrats were very tardy about beginning their house, 

 la} r ing the corner-stone — or the corner-sod — about 

 December 1st, and continuing the work slowly and 

 indifferently. On the 15th of the month the nest was 

 not yet finished. This, I said, indicates a mild winter; 

 and, sure enough, the season was one of the mildest 

 known for many years. The rats had little use for 

 their house. 



Again, in the fall of 1880, while the weather-wise 

 were wagging their heads, some forecasting a mild, 

 some a severe winter, I watched with interest for a 

 sign from my muskrats. About November 1st, a month 

 earlier than the previous year, they began their nest, 

 and worked at it with a will. They appeared to have 

 just got tidings of what was coming. If I had taken 

 the hint so palpably given, my celery would not have 

 been frozen in the ground, and my apples caught 

 in unprotected places. When the cold wave struck 

 us, about November 20th, my four-legged " I-told-you- 

 so's" had nearly completed their dwelling ; it lacked 

 only the ridge-board, so to speak ; it needed a little 

 "topping out," to give it a finished look. But this 

 it never got. The winter had come to stay, and il 

 waxed more and more severe, till the unprecedented 

 cold of the last days of December must have aston« 

 Sshed even the wise muskrats in their snug retreat 



