THE MUSKRAT. 



35 



sand for the surface of embankments, since the animals will not 

 burrow in soil that fills the hole as fast as they open it. 



The best means of protecting the vegetable garden from muskrats 

 is to erect a fence of netting, either surrounding the garden or skirt- 

 ing the bank of the stream or pond. The netting should be of gal- 

 vanized wire 3 feet or more in width and of an inch and a half mesh. 

 The lower edge should be sunk 6 inches into the soil to prevent the 

 animals from digging under. 



ENEMIES OF THE MUSKRAT. 



Man is by no means the only destroyer of the muskrat. Among 

 its natural enemies are the coyote, fox, mink, the larger hawks and 

 owls, and the pickerel. But all of these enemies together do not 

 greatly affect the number of muskrats. 



Next to trapping, floods and droughts destroy the largest numbers. 

 Richardson w^as the first to record the effect of the elements on the 

 muskrat. He states that inundations destroy many and that in 

 parts of the country severe winters extirpate them by freezing the 

 swamps and shallow ponds solid and that then they die of famine or 

 destroy each other. Also they die in large numbers from some un- 

 known cause. Sometimes the decrease is so great that fur posts 

 have to be abandoned.^^ 



R. MacFarlane says that seasons of high water favor the propaga- 

 tion of the muskrat, while summers of drought and continued low- 

 water limit increase and also cause much mortality during the suc- 

 ceeding winter. He adds that in some years many thousands of the 

 animals perish miserably under the ice and in their frozen up 

 " w^ashes " or w^inter homes ; also that many die of disease.^ Mac- 

 Farlane cites these facts in explanation of the great fluctuation in 

 the number of muskrat skins collected from year to year in north- 

 west Canada. However, the prolific breeding of the animals during 

 one or two favorable seasons usually restores the normal numbers. 



The proposed reclamation of swamps and marsh lands throughout 

 the country, if carried out, will greatly reduce the number of musk- 

 rats by restricting their habitat; and if the supply of this fur is to 

 be maintained, it must be through protection and eventually through 

 private ownership. 



PROTECTIVE LAWS. 



From an economic point of view the protection of fur-bearing 

 animals is just as important as the preservation of game; but, until 

 recently, laws for their protection have been few. A number of 



« Fauna Boreali-Americana, p. 117, 1820. 

 » Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXVIII, 737, 1905. 



396 



