rooms. It is only when winter comes, and 

 family ties dissolve, that a few of the more 

 sociable or more adventurous club together, 

 come up to the pond, and while away the cold 

 weather in these haystack lodges. 



These houses are very simple, but entirely 

 adequate. If you will lift the top off an ordi- 

 nary meadow lodge you will find a single room, 

 with a bed in the middle, and at least one en- 

 trance and one exit which are always closed to 

 outsiders by water. 



The meadow lodge is built thus : The musk- 

 rat first chooses a large tussock of sedge that 

 stands well out of the water for his bedstead. 

 Now, from a foundation below the water, thick 

 walls of mud and grass are erected inclosing 

 the tussock ; a thatch of excessive thickness is 

 piled on ; the channels leading away from the 

 doors are dug out if necessary ; a bunch of 

 soaking grass is brought in and made into a 

 bed on the tussock— and the muskrat takes 

 possession. 



The pond lodges at the head of Lupton's are 

 made after this fashion, only they are much 

 larger, and instead of being raised about a tus- 

 [175] 



