FIBER ZIBETHICUS. 
179 
takes up its abode near dykes or dams, its perforations are liable to 
do great mischief. 
In moving about on their feeding grounds Muskrats are in the 
habit of travelling along the same paths till they become deeply worn 
channels. Steel traps properly concealed in these runways are 
almost certain to capture the first animal that passes. 
In places where the water is from two to six feet deep the Musk- 
rat, in the fall of the year, sometimes collects and heaps together a 
large quantity of aquatic and marsh plants, the resulting mass taking 
a shape not unlike that of a “ haycock,” though commonly far less 
symmetrical. This accumulation of vegetation, with more or less 
adhering mud,* is called a Muskrat “ hut ” or “ house.” It varies 
greatly in size, those placed in water occasionally attaining extraordi- 
nary dimensions. The summit of the structure is commonly high 
enough out of water to admit of an air-chamber within, which com- 
municates with the outside world by means of a hole through the 
centre of the mass, the entrance or entrances being under water. 
Many of the houses contain no mud or sticks, but consist wholly of 
balls and knots of roots and swamp grasses. It seems clear that the 
animals make no attempt to construct a dwelling of any particular 
shape, but merely heap the materials together without plan or order, 
the resulting mound naturally assuming, in a general way, the form 
of a flattened cone. In some cases the summit is quite dome-shaped, 
but I am convinced that this is purely the result of accident, for 
their upper parts are usually very irregular. The materials of which 
the hut is composed, it will be observed, are such as serve as food 
for the animals during the long winters ; hence the Muskrat’s house 
is, in reality, a store-house, which he devours piecemeal as the winter 
advances ! The one structure supplies both the food itself, and the 
* I have never seen a Muskrat house that was built of mud, or that even consisted largely of this 
material ; but they must occur in certain localities, for no less trustworthy an authority than Sir 
John Richardson wrote : “In the autumn, before the shallow lakes and swamps freeze over, the 
Musquash builds its house of mud, giving it a conical form, and a sufficient base to raise the 
chamber above the level of the water.” (Fauna Boreali Americana, Vol. I, 1829, p. 117.) 
