FIBER ZIBETHICUS. 
1 85 
disturbed, and sought temporary shelter elsewhere ; when I would 
move to a new place, giving them time to recover from their fright.” * * * § 
That the Muskrat was at one time a very important article of com- 
merce is evident from the fact that Dr. Richardson, in writing of it 
in 1829, stated : “ Between four and five hundred thousand skins are 
annually imported into Great Britain from North America.” f And 
even at the present day several thousand are killed each year in the 
United States alone. It is probable that no other North American 
mammal is so extensively trapped by the rural small boy. This is 
due to the great abundance of the species, even in populous districts, 
and the ease with which it is trapped, rather than to its value, for 
Muskrat pelts have always ranked among the cheaper furs, a single 
skin rarely fetching more than fifteen or twenty cents. 
The Muskrat is a very prolific animal. It brings forth from five to 
nine young at a birth, and is said to raise three litters in a season. 
The nest is usually placed in a hole in the bank, at some little distance 
from the water, though it is sometimes built in the hut. Robert 
Kennicott, in his very valuable paper upon The Quadrupeds of 
Illinois, says : “ Though the young are generally brought forth in 
burrows, they were often found in the houses in the sloughs, only 
one female, however, remaining in a house.” J Mr. Thomas S. Rob- 
erts thus describes a litter of young that he found near Minneapolis, 
Minnesota, May 24th, 1880: “ Upon knocking the top off from a 
Muskrat house on the edge of a slough, nine young Muskrats ap- 
parently but a day or two old were disclosed. They were hairless 
and showed not the least sign of their eyes opening. The nest was 
of dry grass and not more than an inch or two above the level of the 
water.” § 
The noise a Muskrat makes in diving is out of all proportion to its 
* The Trapper's Guide. By S. Newhouse. Published by Oneida Community, Wallingford, 
Conn., 1867, pp. 147-150. 
f Fauna Boreali Americana, Vol. I, 1829, p. 118. 
% Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year 1856. Agriculture, 1857, p. 108. 
§ Forest and Stream, Vol. XIV, No. 22, July 1, 1880, pp. 428-429. 
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