LIFE AND LOVE RETURN 259 



Meanwhile, the canoes had been overhauled : freshly patched, 

 stitched, and gummed, their thwarts strengthened, their ribs 

 adjusted, and their bottoms greased. 



A few days later, loading some traps and kit — among which 

 was the hunter's bow and quiver of arrows — aboard his small 

 canoe, Oo-koo-hoo and I set out at sunrise and paddling around 

 the western end of Bear Lake, entered Bear River. It was a 

 cold but delightful morning, and the effect of the sun shining 

 through the rising mist was extremely beautiful. We were 

 going otter- and muskrat-hunting; and as we descended that 

 charming little stream and wound about amid its marshy flats 

 and birch- and poplar-clad slopes, every once in a while ducks 

 startled us by suddenly whirring out of the mist. Then, when 

 long light lines of rippling water showed in the misty screen 

 we knew that they were nothing but the wakes of swimming 

 muskrats; and soon we glided into a colony of them; but for the 

 time being they were not at home — the still-rising spring freshet 

 had driven them from their flooded houses. 



The muskrat's little island lodge among the rushes is erected 

 upon a foundation of mud and reeds that rises about two feet 

 before it protrudes above the surface of the water. The build- 

 ing material, taken from round the base, by its removal helps 

 to form a deep-water moat that answers as a further protection 

 to the muskrat's home. Upon that foundation the house is 

 built by piling upon it more reeds and mud. Then the tun- 

 nels are cut through the pile from about the centre of the 

 over-water level down and out at one side of the under-water 

 foundation, while upon the top more reeds and mud are 

 placed to form the dome-shaped roof, after which the chamber 

 inside is cleared. The apex of the roof rises about three feet 

 above the water. In some localities, however, muskrats live 

 in dens excavated in the banks of rivers or ponds. To these 

 dens several under-water runways lead. 



Muskrats feed principally on the roots and stalks of many 



