82 The Muskrat 



disturbed the muskrats betake themselves to their 

 individual huts until their fright is over. 



At all seasons the food of the muskrat is in the 

 main herbaceous, consisting chiefly of the roots of 

 marsh grasses and aquatic plants. He is very fond 

 of sweet apples and will venture quite a distance 

 from home that he may enjoy this tidbit. Vegetable 

 gardens situated along water courses are sometimes 

 seriously damaged by a colony of muskrats. I re- 

 member very distinctly an experience which I had 

 in my younger days. Near the lower end of the 

 garden, which was my care and pride, flowed a large 

 creek along whose course were numerous sequestered 

 pools and coves, set back well into the mainland and 

 shaded by willows. The muskrat families that dwell 

 about these ideal places were well supplied with the 

 necessary vegetation, but this did not satisfy their 

 appetites. In the latter part of August the vegetables 

 in the garden began to disappear, and early in Sep- 

 tember the turnips, carrots, and parsnips were nearly 

 destroyed. It did not dawn upon me that this was 

 the work of muskrats until one evening a heavy 

 shower left the soil of the garden very soft. In the 

 morning the story of the marauders was plainly written 

 on the telltale earth. The footprints were unmis- 

 takably those of the muskrat. Now knowing who 



