MUSK-RAT. 121 



however, be easily drowned. We once observed several of them which had 

 been driven from their holes, after struggling under the ice for about fifteen 

 minutes rising to the surface ; and on taking them out, by cutting holes in 

 the ice, they were found to be quite dead. Richardson speaks of " their 

 being subject at uncertain intervals to a great mortality from some un- 

 known cause." We have no doubt that in very cold winters, when the 

 ice reaches to the bottom of the ponds, and they are confined to their holes 

 they devour each other, since we have seen many burrows opened in 

 autumn, and except in the instances we have already mentioned, we 

 found no provision laid up for winter use. When a Musk-Rat has been 

 caught by one foot in a trap set on the land, it is frequently found, torn 

 to pieces and partially devoured ; and from the tracks around, one might 

 be induced to believe, that, as is the case with porpoises, and many other 

 animals, when one is wounded and cannot escape, its companions turn 

 upon and devour it. When one is shot, and dies in the water, it is 

 very soon carried off by the living ones, if there are any in the vicinity 

 at the time, and is dragged into one of their holes or nests. We 

 have frequently found carcasses of these animals thus concealed, but in 

 these cases the flesh had not been devoured. This singular habit reminds 

 us of the Indians, who always carry their dead off the field of battle when 

 they can, and endeavour to prevent their bodies falling into the hands of 



their enemies. 



After a severe winter on a sudden rise in the water before the break- 

 ing up of the ice, hundreds of Musk-Rats are drowned in their holes, 

 especially where there are no high shelving banks to enable them 

 to extend their galleries beyond the reach of the rising waters. 

 During these occasional freshets in early spring, the Musk-Rats that 

 escape drowning, are driven from their holes, and swim about from 

 shore to shore, without shelter and without food, and may be easily 

 destroyed. We remember that two hunters with their guns, coursing 

 up and down opposite sides of a pond on one of these occasions, made 

 such fearful havoc among these animals that for several years afterwards 

 we scarcely observed any traces of them in that locality. Many rapa- 

 cious birds as well as quadrupeds seize and devour the Musk-Rat. When 

 it makes its appearance on land, the fox and the lynx capture it with 

 great ease. One of our young friends at Dennisville, in the State of 

 Maine, informed us that his greatest difficulty in procuring this species in 

 traps, arose from their being eaten after they were caught, by the snowy 

 owl and other birds of prey, which would frequently sit and watch the 

 traps, as it were keeping guard over them, until the poor Musquash 

 was in the toils, on seeing which, they descended, and made a hearty 



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