THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
The body of the muskrat is about a foot long, and the tail eight inches. 
The animal is rather stout and thick set, the head is rounded, and the ears 
are smalland close. The front feet are rather small, while the hind feet are 
stout, with five partially webbed toes, well fitted for swimming, yet the 
sculling movement of 
> the much-compressed 
: tail is the principal 
means of progress in 
the water. The pelage 
consists, as is usual 
with aquatic mam- 
mals, of an under coat 
of dense soft fur and 
an outer coat on the 
back and sides, chiefly 
of long, dark, shining, 
smooth hairs which 
are pulled out when 
the pelt is dressed. So 
much air is held by 
Brownell, Phot. these outer hairs that 
A MusKRat’s DINING-TABLE. in ordinary excursions 
Showing an accumulation of mussel shells (Unio), the — the ynder fur is hardly 
remains of many meals. witied: The: 2e6loe 
above is dark umber brown, darkest on the middle of the back and on 
the tail, while beneath the prevailing shade is gray. The musky odor 
from which the animal gets its name is due to the secretion of a large gland 
between the thighs, which is present in both sexes; and to similar secretion, 
excessive in amount, is due the name ‘‘muskrat”’ applied in India to a very 
different animal,—a large shrew (Crocidura). 
The flesh of the muskrat is good eating and was formerly much used 
by the Indians; and the skins form an important item in the fur trade. 
Hence muskrats are extensively trapped, chiefly in the winter, by setting 
small steel traps at the entrance to their houses or burrows or in runways 
where they come ashore, and hundreds of thousands are killed annually. 
Their numbers nevertheless do not decrease, partly because their natural 
enemies are now fewer, but chiefly because of the fact that the making of 
slack-water spaces, by damming rivers and the digging of canals (whose 
banks they seriously damage), have greatly extended waters suitable for 
them in various parts of the country. 
438 
