120 MUSK-RAT. 



found in a small space near their nests. Our young friend, Spencer F. 

 Baird, Esq., assures us that in the neighbourhood of Carlisle, Pennsylva- 

 nia, on the Conodoguinet creek, he has often observed large quantities of 

 shells, most of which were so adroitly opened by these animals, as not to 

 be at all broken, and would have made very good specimens for the con- 

 chologist. He has seen the Musk-Rat eating a mussel occasionally on a 

 log in the water, holding the shell between its fore-paws, as a squirrel 

 holds a nut. 



We once placed a quantity of mussels in a cage, to feed some Mu^k- 

 Rats we had domesticated in the North ; they carried them one by one, 

 into an inner compartment, where they were hidden from view. Here we 

 heard them gnawing at the shells ; we then removed a slide in the cage, 

 which enabled us to see them at work ; they were seated, sometimes, up- 

 right like a squirrel, at other times like a rat, with the shell-fish lying on 

 the floor, holding on to it by their fore-paws, and breaking it open with 

 their lower incisors. In Carolina, we obtained for the same purpose, al- 

 though for a different family of Musk-Rats, a quantity of mussels of the 

 species Vnio ang-ustatus and Anodon cataracta; some of these were too 

 hard to be immediately opened by the animals with their^ teeth. They 

 were carried by the Musk-Rats, as usual, into a separate and darkened 

 portion of the cage. We heard an occasional gnawing, but three days 

 afterwards, many of the harder species of shell still remained unopened. 

 We did not again examine the cage, till after the expiration of ten days, 

 when the shells were all empty. They had probably opened in conse- 

 quence of the death of the animal within, when their contents were eaten 

 by the Rats. Oysters were placed in the cage, which on account of their 

 saltness, we believed would not be relished ; but a week afterwards the 

 shells only were left. We procured a pint of a small species of imported 

 snail, (Bulimus decollatus, Gmel., mutilatus. Say,) that has become very de- 

 structive in many of the gardens of Charleston, and the Musk-Rats im- 

 mediately began to crush them with their teeth, and in a few days no- 

 thing but the broken shells remained. We have, therefore, come to the 

 conclusion, that whilst vegetables are the general food of this species, va- 

 rious kinds of shell-fish, form no inconsiderable portion of it. Our Musk- 

 Rats refused fish, but were like most animals in confinement, fond of bread. 

 They were generally fed on sweet potatoes, parsnips, cabbage, and ce- 

 lery ; the sweet flag, {Acorus calamus,) they rejected altogether. 



Although the Musk-Rat walks awkwardly, and proceeds so slowly 

 that it can scarcely be said to run, it swims and dives well. We regard 

 it as a better swimmer than the mink, and from its promptness in diving, 

 at the flash of the gun, it frequently escapes from its pursuers. It maj% 



