THE MUSKRAT AND ITS HOME 



the bait which he placed on the traps he had set 

 for mink. 



One day near the middle of October, Joe and 

 I noticed two large muskrats with long rushes 

 in their mouths swimming toward a spot in the 

 slough where the water was five or six feet deep 

 after the heavy fall rains. One animal placed 

 the rushes side by side while the other dived 

 and brought up more ; these were placed cross- 

 wise upon the first layer ; the next layer was 

 placed from one corner to the other ; thus layer 

 after layer was added so as to form a circular 

 raft. As soon as it would hold the weight of a 

 muskrat, one mounted the platform and seemed 

 to be cutting rushes and roots into small pieces 

 to fill in the open spaces between the long 

 rushes and thus make the mass solid. As more 

 material was added its weight caused the raft to 

 sink. Then the muskrats would begin all over, 

 only to have it sink again ; thus they worked 

 day after day seeming never to tire. 



At the end of the third week the platform 



remained on the surface of the water for several 



days ; we then knew they had succeeded in 



building the under stories of their winter home. 



['49] 



