MUSKRATS 



LONG before man began to inherit the earth, 

 J giant beavers built their dams and swam in 

 the streams of long ago. For ages these creatures 

 have been extinct. Our forefathers, during his- 

 torical times, found smaller beavers abundant, 

 and "with such zeal did they trap them that this 

 modern race is now well-nigh vanished. Nothing 

 is left to us but the humble muskrat, — ^which in 

 name and in facile adaptation to the encroach- 

 ments of civilization has little in common with his 

 more noble predecessor. Yet in many ways his 

 habits of life bring to mind the beaver. 



Let us mate the most of our heritage and watch 

 at the edge of a stream some evening in late 

 fall. If the muskrats have half finished their 

 moimd of sticks and mud, which is to serve them 

 for a winter home, we will be sure to see some of 

 them at work. Two lines of ripples furrow the 

 surface outward from the farther bank, and a 

 small dark form clambers upon the pile of rub- 

 bish. Suddenly a spat! sounds at our very feet, 

 and a muskrat dives headlong into the water, 

 followed by the one on the ground. Another spat! 

 and splash comes from farther down the stream, 

 and so the danger signal of the miuskrat clan is 



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