74 TRAPPING. 



carrots cut in small bits in the runs of the musk-rats, to toll them to 

 the barrel. Then with bait upon the floats, inside, the rats will 

 jump in after the food, and will not be able to get out. Where 

 they are plenty, several musk-rats may be taken in a night by this 

 simple trap, it costs nothing but labor, can be visited at your con- 

 venience, and there is plenty of room in it for a dozen or more at once. 



The musk-rat is a very dainty eater, and one of the swell mem- 

 bers of the animal kingdom. He not only washes himself before 

 and after he eats, but he washes all his food and observes the rule of 

 cleanliness with unvarying regularity. Personally he is a short- 

 legged little animal, from twelve to fifteen inches long, with a tail 

 two-thirds the length of his body. He sports six rows of side- 

 whiskers, and wears a scared, surprised sort of an expression on 

 his rather homely face that makes him look as if at some time he 

 had been guilty of some great crime. His dress is useful as well as 

 ornamental. It is of hair, very soft and warm, dark brown on top, 

 and rather lighter below. He is a good feeder, and his bill of fare 

 embraces roots, grasses, vegetables, fruits and mussels. He can 

 shuck a mussel as easily as a champion shucker can handle an 

 oyster. Sometimes he eats fish, but this is rare. He is mainly a 

 vegetarian. 



The uses of the musk-rat are twofold, its hide, and for food. 

 Formerly, when musk-rat fur was fashionable, the hides easiJy 

 brought 25 or 30 cents, but nowadays 10 or 15 cents is all they are 

 worth. As food the excellence of the meat depends altogether on 

 the skinning and cooking. If the musk-bag is cut and the scent 

 is imparted to the meat, it becomes worthless. An Indian 

 woman who is somewhat noted for her success in making musk-rat 

 palatable, tells how she treats the animal. She said she skinned it 

 and washed it carefully in fresh water; soaked it for several 

 hours in salt water, and then, if the weather was cold enough^ hung 

 it in the air so that it would freeze. The longer it is allowed to 

 freeze the better it gets. The cold tabes away the wild taste. After 

 this she either stews it, or, if she wants it fried, parboils it and 

 fries it afterward. When served hot after the foregoing treatment it 

 it is a dish not to be despised. The meat resembles the guinea hen, . 

 and tastes something like that of the squirrel. The way the Indians 

 used to treat this animal was either to toast it on coals or boil it 

 with corn. It is to this day a great favorite with them and is rated 

 second only to beaver's tail. 



