MUSK-RAT. 119 



were strewn with turnip leaves, which either had dropped, or were bitten 

 off, to render the transportation more convenient. Their paths after en- 

 tering the meadow diverged to several burrows, all of which, gave evi- 

 dence that their tenants had been on a foraging expedition on the pre- 

 vious night. The most convenient burrow was opened, and we discovered 

 in the nest, so many different articles of food, that we were for some time 

 under an impression, that like the chipping squirrel, chickaree, &c., this 

 species laid up in autumn a store of food for winter use. There were 

 carrots, and parsnips, which appeared to have been cut into halves, the 

 lower part of the root having been left in the ground; but what struck us 

 as most singular, was that ears of corn (maize) not yet quite ripe, had been 

 dragged into the liurrow, with a considerable portion of the stalk attached. 



The corn-stalks then standing in the garden, were so tall, that the ears 

 could not be reached by the JMusk-llats, and on examining the beds from 

 which they had probably some days previously taken the corn we found 

 in the burrow, we ascertained that the stalks had been gnawed off at 

 the roots. 



Professor Lee, who resides at Buncomb, North Carolina, lately in- 

 formed us, that for several summers past, his fields of Inihan corn, which 

 are situated near a stream frequented b}- Musk-Rrits, have been greatly 

 injured by their carrjing off whole stalks at a time, every night for some 

 weeks together. The aliove, however, are the only instances, that have 

 come to our knowledge of their doing any injury to the vegetable garden, 

 or to the corn-field, although this maj- proliably be frequently the case, 

 where the fields or gardens skirt the banks of vv'ater-courses. 



These animals walk so clumsil}-, that they seem rmwilling to trust them- 

 selves anjf distance from tlie margin of the stream or dam on which they 

 have taken up their residence. We have supposed, that a considerable 

 portion of their food in the Northern States in some localities, was the root 

 of the common arrow-bead, (Sugittfii-ifi, sngittifalia,) as we have often ob- 

 serv-ed it had been gnawed off, and have fomid bits of it at the mouths of 

 their holes. We have, also, seen stems of the common Indian turnip, 

 {Armn triphylltmi,) w^hich were cut off, portions of which, near the root, 

 appeared to have been eaten. They also feed on the spice wood, (Lau- 

 rus benzoin.) Richardson says, " they feed in the Northern districts on 

 the roots and tender shoots of the bulrush and reed-mace, and on the 

 leaves of various carices and aquatic grasses." Penxant says, " they are 

 very fond of the Acorus verus, or Calamus aromaticus ; " and Kalm speaks 

 of apples being placed in traps, as a bait for them. Nearly all our ■vrnters 

 on natural history, are correct in saying, that fresh water mussels com- 

 pose a portion of their food. Sometimes several bushels of shells may be 



