BELOW THE RIVER BANK 243 



are credited with attaining great antiquity. Perhaps 

 age makes them snappy age and idleness. The com- 

 bination has been known to work a similar effect on 

 the disposition of animals more elevated on the biological 

 ladder! Our northern snapping turtles attain a very 

 considerable size, a foot across, and make a delicious 

 pie. Often, too, they seem to be smitten with a wan- 

 derlust, leaving their land below the river bank to go 

 adventuring across the fields. The big fellows are 

 usually thus caught out of their element, at times half a 

 mile from the water. The largest snapper I ever saw 

 was lumbering along down a country road, in the dust 

 and heat, so comically like an illustration for the fable 

 that we looked about for the hare. 



Another common inhabitant of our river world is 

 the muskrat, though the rise in value of his pelt is 

 rapidly working havoc in his ranks. He is now, in his 

 final transformation, often mink, and not infrequently, 

 I am afraid, something more expensive still! The 

 muskrat is a little brother of the beaver, and while not 

 so industrious, he is more spunky. He lives on lily 

 roots and fresh-water mussels. You will often see 

 mussel shells open, and the mussels gone, close to the 

 water's edge on the sand shelf or at the foot of a log. 

 The muskrat has been enjoying his midnight supper 

 there. His summer home is in a hole under the bank, 

 either of the river itself, or of some bordering swale. 

 In winter, however, he remaims in the swales almost 



