302 UNDER THE OPEN SKY 



our muskrats usually make burrows in the 

 banks of streams, leaving to their more 

 northerly brothers the mound-building trick. 

 But these fellows had built a genuine 

 mound. Not far away was a cornfield, and 

 cornstalks, cut into lengths of about a foot, 

 had served to furnish the main stiffening for 

 the structure. With this they had mixed 

 mud, carried up from the bed of the stream, 

 which they patted down amongst the rather 

 irregularly laid stalks. In this way the side 

 towards the stream had gotten a gentle slope 

 and showed chiefly the mud, while the op- 

 posite side was steep and full of projecting 

 stalks. They take the material they find 

 easiest to hand. I have recently seen two 

 others. One of them was made almost en- 

 tirely of mud, with a few old leaves; the 

 other was built of coarse grasses daubed 

 with mud. The entrance into the mound 

 has its mouth under water. The muskrats 

 have hollowed out the inside of the pile and 

 entering the tunnel they come up through 

 a hole in the floor. This is only a few inches 

 above the level of the water. Here they 



