FEBRUARY 305 



spend the winter, only sallying out in search 

 of food on bright days, unless pressed by 

 hunger. But even when it is quite cold, 

 a blow on the top of the mound will startle 

 them, and away they scurry, perhaps under 

 clear ice which may cover the stream. In 

 this pond the main food of the muskrat 

 seems to be the roots of the coarse water 

 plants that grow in the swamp. In a larger 

 stream some miles away, the habits of the 

 animal are quite different. Here he builds 

 no mound, which indeed would be too easily 

 swept away by the high floods. Instead, 

 he makes a tunnel, below the level of 

 the water, into the bank of the stream. 

 This passage-way rises and opens into a 

 chamber as big as a peck measure. Here 

 he chiefly spends his days and winters. 

 His journeys made in search of food are 

 commonly made at night. His food, as 

 well as his house, differs from that of his 

 pond-loving brother. He has given up, to 

 some extent, his vegetable diet, and has 

 taken to bivalves fresh from the shell. 

 Mussels, or fresh-water clams, seem to 

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