NATURAL HISTORY. 



3&3 



While it may be true that "no one ever 

 saw a muskrat eat flesh of any kind," yet 

 it is a well established fact that they do. 

 When I used to drive the cow to pasture 

 by the tail, I had to pass a series of old 

 brick ponds infested with muskrats, and 

 frequently stopped to catch turtles. I re- 

 member often hearing an old Irish woman, 

 who lived in a hovel near by, cuss the ro- 

 dents for killing her young ducks; and 

 she even accused them of stealing the 

 ducks from their coop. If Mr. M. has 

 never heard of anyone's baiting muskrat 

 traps with meat, he should listen while I 

 tell him I always do, unless I am trapping 

 in runways, and that it is the surest bait 

 that can be used. I have even known 

 muskrats to kill each other and eat part 

 of th,e flesh. Along the banks of the beau- 

 tiful Susquehanna river I have seen bush- 

 els of clam shells heaped under a stone, a 

 log or the roots of a tree, by muskrats, 

 after they have feasted on the contents of 

 the shells. In one place, while canoeing 

 down the river from Cooperstown, I passed 

 a strip about 3 miles long, that was par- 

 ticularly thick with clam shells. While 

 gliding silently along close to shore, I sur- 

 prised a muskrat on the bank. After it 

 had rushed into the water, I landed and 

 tracked it in the soft mud to a spot a few 

 feet from the shore, where it had stuck a 

 fresh clam in the mud to be opened by the 

 sun. This accounts for the large number 

 of shells that are found unbroken in the 

 heaps. Several old fishermen from whom 

 I inquired said also that they were the 

 work of muskrats. 



Grubs, snails, and insects form a princi- 

 pal part of the food of our Eastern chip- 

 munk, and had Mr. M. read the different 

 criticisms on the beneficial and harmful 

 qualities of the red squirrel, that have ex- 

 tended through several numbers of Rec- 

 reation, he would have been convinced 

 that it is not only the carnivorous animals 

 which eat meat. I have caught the follow- 

 ing rodents in traps baited with raw meat: 

 Woodchuck (Arctomys) ; Columbian 

 ground - squirrel (S pernio philus) ; several 

 other species of ground-squirrels; about 

 half a dozen species of woodrats, both 

 smooth and bushy - tailed; chipmunks 

 (Tamias); cotton-rats (Sigmodon) ; many 

 species of white-footed mice (Pcromyscus) ; 

 meadow mice (Microtus) ; red-backed mice 

 (Evotomys) ; grasshopper mice (Anocho- 

 mys) ; harvest mice {Reithrodentomys) ; 

 jumping mice (Zapus) ; and once a little 

 chief hare (Lagomys) ; though I am inclined 

 to believe the hare was not attracted by 

 the bait, but stumbled into the trap acci- 

 dentally. 



I wish some of your numerous readers 

 would tell me where I can buy beaver or 

 otter. In fact, I should like to communi- 



cate with anyone having live animals or 

 birds for sale. J. Alden Loring, 



I notice in Recreation a communica- 

 tion from C. W. Morgareidge, who doubts 

 if muskrats eat flesh. I have never seen 

 one do so, but have seen one chase and 

 catch a water-dog, or lizard. Four years 

 ago a friend and I were driving by Nichols 

 lake, near this place, and we noticed some 

 animal swimming under water, chasing 

 another animal. I pulled up the horse at 

 the edge of the lake. The water was calm, 

 and the sun shining, so we could see every- 

 thing clearly. My first thought was that 

 it was a mink trying to catch a trout; but 

 I soon saw what the pursued was. The 

 water-dog twisted and turned quickly, but 

 his enemy was as quick as he. Finally, 

 when the 2 were about 3 feet apart and 25 

 or 30 feet from shore, the pursuer made a 

 sudden dash, caught the water-dog and 

 rose to the surface. Then I saw the pur- 

 suer was a muskrat. It swam partly out of 

 the water, so I could indentify it beyond 

 doubt. The rat swam off with its prey. 

 What it did with it I don't know. If it 

 killed it just for the fun of the thing, or to 

 make a record, I suppose it should be 

 classed as a game hog and dealt with ac- 

 cordingly. But my impression is animals 

 that kill meat do so because they wish to 

 eat it. 



E. R. Warren, Crested Butte, Colo. 



I notice in your August number a letter 

 from C. H. Ames, of West Newton, Mass., 

 in re muskrats eating flesh. I am of the 

 opinion of C. W. Morgareidge, of Wolf, 

 Wyo., that they are not carnivorous. 

 Muskrats here live on roots obtained in the 

 marshes. I once shot more ducks than I 

 could carry out of a marsh and left some 

 on a rat house, intending to return for 

 them the next morning. When I did so 

 the rats had completely covered them with 

 grass and rushes, as they were preparing 

 for winter; but not a feather of them had 

 been touched nor were there any signs of 

 the muskrats' teeth in the birds. The na- 

 tives of this country say muskrats do not 

 eat flesh. 



T. I. Tait, Carman, Man. 



WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



It is estimated that there are about 480,- 

 000 different species of animals that have 

 been studied and described, although there 

 are only 150,000 different species of plants. 



The following table is interesting: 



No. of species of insects in the 



world : • 50,000,000 



Described species of insects in 



all orders 300,000 



No. species Coleoptera . . . 130,000 



No. species Lepidoptera. . , 60,000 



