In form muskrats are not unlike meadow mice, but they are about 2 feet 
long, of which nearly half is the bare, laterally compressed tail. The ani- 
mals live in areas where bulrushes and cattails sare abundant, feed upon all 
parts of these plants, and use them as matcrigzls for. their winter lodges. 
These are low conical mounds, substantially built, and standing high enough 
above the water line to provide ample space within for a dry grass-lined 
living room. From it several passageways lead off in different directions 
under water. Muskrats are heavily trapped for fur, which ordinarily has a 
good valuation, considering their abundance. 
Occasional visitors to the marshes include the otter, the mink, the 
raccoon, and the opossum, all probably well enough known for there to be 
no question as to identity. 
CONSERVATION 
Conservation means different things to different people. Some think 
of protecting only things that can be used, and here again there is more 
than one school of thought--at least, of action. One protects only to the 
date of use and takes what it wishes without planning for replacement. (This 
has been compared to mining.) The other strives for replacement, so that 
there can be sustained use. (This has been compared to crop production. ) 
There is also protection for beneficial economic tendencies, without direct 
use--this principle underlying the protection of insectivorous birds. Final- 
ly there is conservation for its own sake, the goal of the nature lover. 
Whatever his particular interest in wildlife may be, the nature 
lover is one who, consciously or not is impressed with the fellowship of 
all living things, a fellowship that is very real. All come from a single 
cell, all are made up of cells. Applied to the wildlife discussed in this 
publication, the likeness is even closer; all have skulls inclosing the 
Vital brain, all have backbones and the same general bodily framework, and 
all have about the same organs, used in the same way and nourished with a 
flow of blood from en ever-faithful heart; they are indeed blood relatives. 
It should never be forgotten that they share with us also the joy 
of living. No man can possibly gst as much pleasure out of the water as 
does a porpoise, or an otter. Man, no matter how perfect his equipment, 
can never be attuned to flying.like the terns, the swallows, and other 
birds whosé pliant grace, in calm or storm, is beyond marvel. No man can 
be at home in a tree like a woodpecker, which born, cradled, and housed 
in trees its whole lifelong, must feel each evening when it comes for rest 
to its snug retreat that this tree, this nest, is the best and safest place 
in all the world, 
. Thet wildlife enjoys living in general as much as man, and probably 
im Many ways even more, is a thought that should never be entirely out of 
mind. Man assumes dominion over wildlife and exercises it as he can, but 
in so doing he should as far as possible in the case of every creature, 
respect its right to existence, to its chosen home, and to undisturbed 
enjoyment of its way of life. As: has been so often, but not too often, 
Said, in following out our ideas for readjusting wildlife and its en- 
vironment, we should do only what is necessaiy and no more. 
ere 
