THE MUSKRAT AND ITS HOME 



They carried slough-grass, spatterdock and 

 cat-tail rushes, winding them in the flexible, 

 short limbs of the tree, which helped to hold 

 more securely the gathered material. When 

 they had built a mound three or more feet above 

 the water and nearly four feet across, they fin- 

 ished the outside with large spatterdock leaves 

 and long blades of grass mixed with mud, giv- 

 ing it the appearance of a thatched roof. All 

 muskrat huts are not built like those which Joe 

 and I knew. They build according to the place, 

 material and climate in which they live ; but all 

 muskrat homes are made on the same general 

 plan, if not as perfect in architecture as the two 

 above described, watching which Joe and I spent 

 part of each day for over a month, meanwhile 

 learning to love the little furry builders. 



Back of our house were pits of potatoes, car- 

 rots and parsnips covered with straw and earth, 

 stored thus for safe keeping for the early spring 

 market. On the afternoon of a late November 

 day Joe and I noticed the tops of carrots and 

 turnips, with now and then a part of a root, 

 scattered around the pits and along little paths 

 that led from the pits down the hill to the slough. 



