The Muskrat 83 



the thieves were, it was easy enough to trace them 

 by the fragments of the leaves strewn along the way 

 from the garden to their burrows. 



As I was curious to know what the muskrats had 

 done with the vegetables, I opened a few of the bur- 

 rows. Here I found the plunder snugly packed away, 

 as though for winter use. The destruction of the 

 garden was a neighborhood affair, for I traced the 

 vegetables to burrows at least thirty rods away. It 

 is worthy of note that, during the time the garden 

 was being plundered by the muskrats, the greatest 

 destruction occurred on cloudy nights, while on the 

 morning following a clear night nothing would be 

 missed. 



I was unable to determine why the muskrats were 

 so destructive this particular autumn, and it seemed 

 strange that they had never troubled the garden 

 before. The number of muskrats trapped during the 

 fall did not show an increase over previous years. 



The finding of the vegetables in the burrows natu- 

 rally leads to the question. Do muskrats store food 

 for winter use ? I believe it is the exception when they 

 do. I wish to relate an incident, although it is a 

 seeming contradiction to the above statement. Not 

 far from the garden and within two hundred feet 

 of the creek stood a large apple tree. The apples 



