lit) The Muskrat. 



2. The Pied Musquash, with dark blackish brown patches on 

 a white gTound. 



3, The White Musquash. 



The only kind we have seen in Canada is brown above and ash- 

 coloured below. It is here principally taken by means of a steel 

 trap like a common rat-trap, baited with parsnips, and set an inch 

 or two under water. It is also shot, and can be taken in any 

 kind of trap, as it has none of the cunning of the fox or the bea- 

 ver. They are very prolific. It is said they breed three or four 

 times in a year, and have from three to six young ones at a litter. 

 In many of our Canadian rivers, even in the well settled Town- 

 ships, there are small secluded bays, where, on account of the 

 small elevation of the banks, the forest still remains, the trees 

 overhanging the water. In such places especially, if there be a 

 growth of reeds or other aquatic plants in the stream, the musk- 

 rats build their houses, and when left undisturbed for a few years 

 become very numerous. 



ISTow and then a family of Indians on their way to the hunting 

 grounds in the autumm will encamp in the vicinity, and in a few 

 days exterminate the colony. We know of one of those places. 

 There is an ancient fisherman living upon a small island near. 

 He supports him?elf by selling the pike, perch and bass, the re- 

 turns of his rod and line, and also turns many a penny by dis- 

 posing the skins of the muskrats, the produce of his traps. He 

 looks upon the rat plantation as his own legitimate property, and 

 is loud in his indignation when two or three canoe-loads of In- 

 dians make their appearance. 



The flesh of this animal is eaten by the Indians and trappers, 

 and is said to bo very good. As Audubon declares that the 

 smell is less unpleasant than that of the skunk, the flesh may be 

 relished by a hungry man, but from what we have seen of the 

 species, we would as soon think of dining oflF a dish of any other 

 kind of rats. 



We do not know whether this species in its extreme northern 

 haunts hybernates, or not. 



DESCRIPTIOSr. 



" Body, of a nearly cylindrical shape, resembling that of the 

 Norway rat Head, short ; neck, very short, and indistinct ; legs, 

 short ; thighs, hid in the body, Tail, two-thirds the length of 

 the body, compressed, convex on the sides, thickest in the middle, 



