1892
July 2
(No 2)
Concord, Massachusetts.
Mass.
Concord.- at least a bushel of material heaped up to
form this nest. I am sure that none of it was there
yesterday afternoon at 3 o'clock when I took out
one of the canoes but on my return yesterday evening
it was too dark to see anything in the house. I
am in doubt as to whether these young were born
in the boat house last night or merely taken
there by the mother from some hole in the bank
flooded by the recent rise (only a few inches) of
the river.
[margin]Musk rat's
nest with
young[/margin]
  Visited this nest this evening at 7 o'clock. The
mother Musk-rat [?], looking precisely like a great,
brown, hairy bird. Soon after I opened the door
she rose on her feet and I could see that the
young were nursing, [delete]each[/delete] Three of them clung to her
teats [delete]as[/delete] when she finally scuttled off and two of them
then fell from her belly through a crack in
the floor into the water. The third dropped on the
boards & I put him back into the nest.
  The same thing happened again on the 3rd at about
12.30 noon when the mother Muskrat took off all
her young but one, clinging to her teats. One dropped
off just outside the nest, another fell through a crack
into the water and one or two remained attached
to her when she stopped in the back part of the boat
house where, to my surprise, another adult Muskrat
which I took to be her mate was found crouching
under a canoe. Mr. Tolman crawled in part both
Muskrats passing within three feet of them without
disturbing them. Two young clung to the mother's teats.
I do not yet know whether or not she rescued those that fell
into the water. {No! all thus dropped perished}