THE MUSKRAT. 



21 



animals. A shell road in Dorchester County, Md., was built across 

 an extensive marsh, the superstructure resting on timbers lying on 

 the ground. Muskrats burrowed beneath and made the road unsafe 

 for driving and a constant source of expense to the county for repairs. 



INJURY TO FISH. 



While muskrats sometimes eat fish, they capture sluggish kinds 

 mainly and seldom harm game fish. A few years ago, when German 

 carp were introduced into many parts of this country, it was found 

 that muskrats sometimes invaded ponds and destroyed the carp. 

 This would not now be regarded as a serious loss. 



Muskrats cause some loss to the fish culturist by injuring his ponds 

 and possibly by destroying the food of fishes. Mr. James Annin, of 

 the United States Fish Commission, states that the animal, in addi- 

 tion to undermining banks of fish ponds and eating off slats from 

 screens, destroys the caddis worm and other fish food.^ 



ECONOMIC USES OF THE MUSKRAT. 



We turn now to a discussion of the economic uses of the muskrat. 

 Its chief value is, of course, for its fur. It is valuable also for its 

 flesh, which is utilized for food. 



THE MUSKRAT AS FOOD. 



The flesh of the muskrat was generally highly esteemed by the 

 aborigines of North America, especially in winter. The early colo- 

 nists soon learned to eat the animals, and cooked them in Indian 

 style, boiled with corn. Nearly all professional trappers, hunters, 

 and voyageurs of the North and Northwest considered the flesh pala- 

 table, and often ate it roasted over the coals of the camp fire. 

 Featherstonhaugh recorded seeing traders and Indians near Lac qui 

 Parle, Minnesota, drying muskrats for food. He says: " This being 

 the season for muskrats, as the traders call them, they had taken an 

 immense number of them, which they had skinned, and the carcasses, 

 AA'hich they are very fond of, were drying on sticks over a slow fire. 

 In tAventy days they had taken 1,200 of these animals." ^ 



In recent jenrs many persons of refined taste have eaten the flesh 

 of the muskrat and considerable diversity of opinion has been ex- 

 pressed as to its palatability. One writer is emphatic in the opinion 

 that its musky flavor would keep any but the starving from eating it. 

 Another declares that the muskrat is game worthy of an epicure, 

 with a flavor somewhat like the wild duck that has been shot in 



« Bill. U. S. Fish Com., IV, 86, 1884. 



* A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor, I, 312, 1847. 



396 



