SWIMMERS CONCLUDED 



it has to serve more as a resting-place than a 

 dweUing. 



Muskrats will sometimes fix up a hollow stump 

 by merely roofing over the top and having an 

 entrance among the roots beneath ; and I know 

 of one placed on a large leaning willow-tree, 

 where I think the passage-way opens directly 

 into the hollow trunk, which is made to serve as 

 a stairway to the bottom of the stream. 



The cabins are not much used except at times 

 of high water and in winter, though I doubt if 

 they are wholly abandoned at any season. 



So long as the streams remain well frozen, the 

 muskrat is practically free from care and danger. 

 The temperature about him hardly varies a 

 degree, whatever the weather may be above the 

 ice. He knows nothing of snowstorms or sleet 

 or high wind, while the ice holds firm, though 

 there may be several feet of rushing, foaming 

 water over the ice in times of freshet. Down 

 where he is at work, it flows with the same gentle 



i6s 



