THE WILD LIFE OF LAKE SUPERIOR 



199 



Photograph by George Shiras, 3d 



A MUSKRAT HEADED FOR THE CARROT PATCH (SEE PAGE 1 92) 



The muskrat differs from the beaver by swimming with its body well above the surface. 

 Contrast this photograph with that of the beaver on page 186. 



place, in order that the scenes visible to 

 a few might be put in a permanent and 

 more available form (see page 177). 



In 1 9 19, after the beaver became abun- 

 dant in a number of upper Michigan 

 counties, the season was opened, result- 

 ing in all the trappers concentrating in 

 these localities and in the rapid decline of 

 the new-comers. A much better policy 

 would have been the trapping alive any 

 surplus and the distribution in those dis- 

 tricts containing hundreds of thousands 

 of acres of worthless second growths 

 along the banks of streams and lakes 

 where the beaver had not yet come. 



Such a system, in a few years, would 

 enlarge the beaver population to a point 

 probably never reached in the region be- 

 fore; for the greatly increased food sup- 

 ply and well-balanced regulations in trap- 

 ping would regulate and perpetuate a 

 contribution of nature such as man never 

 attempted before on such a suitable range. 



The muskrat is much more versatile in 

 the variety of its retreats than the beaver, 

 possibly because of its smaller size. 



Often it takes possession of the over- 

 hanging and lower portions of a beaver- 

 house, living there in peace with the 

 larger landlord, or it may use the wing 

 of any old lumber dam for an all-year 

 home. 



THE ABODES OP THE MUSKRAT ON 

 WHITEPISH LAKE 



The muskrats of Whitensh Lake have 

 an unusual number of domiciles ; for, in 

 addition to those already mentioned, they 

 resort to hollow logs with an entrance 

 under water, or tunnel beneath a fallen 

 trunk extending beyond the bank, this 

 latter retreat being, I believe, a very com- 

 mon one. 



One morning, on a Wyoming lake, I 

 found a pair of muskrats asleep in a 

 newly made nest of grass beneath a flat- 

 bottom rowboat, where the bow extended 

 above the water, and two succeeding 

 nights the same thing happened. Such a 

 home is easily constructed, besides being- 

 warm and secure. 



The logs along the shore are often the 



