The Muskrat 91 



whole year to find muskrats abroad in daylight. 

 With this fact in mind I set out to obtain some photo- 

 graphs. 



My first step was to make a thorough search of the 

 creeks and ponds for a thickly settled muskrat com- 

 munity. The place seeming to promise the best 

 results was the upper portion of a mill race having 

 on one side pasture land, while the other side was a 

 steep bank under which were several burrows. 



Near the water's edge, at about the same point on 

 the pasture side, I had observed muskrats several 

 times during the afternoon. I began by putting sweet 

 apples in certain places, thus rewarding the muskrats 

 which ventured abroad in daylight, but I took care 

 to remove all remaining apples before sundown. I 

 kept up this baiting process for about two weeks, 

 and at the end of that time several of the muskrats 

 made quite regular excursions for the apples late in 

 the afternoon. From the pasture side of the mill 

 race an old log extended from the bank over the water. 

 I noticed a very large muskrat several times, after 

 his frolic on shore, taking a reclining position on the 

 log before he plunged into the water to swim to the 

 opposite shore, where his burrow was located. After 

 several attempts I succeeded in photographing the 

 old fellow in this rather odd reclining position. 



