Musk-rat 1 s 
nest with 
young; 
through a hole in the floor. There must have been 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 an 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. 
Visited this nest this evening at 7 o'clock. The 
mother Musk-rat on, 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. Three 
of them clung to her teats when she finally scuttled off 
and two of these three fell from her belly through a crack 
in the floor into the water. The third dropped on the 
boards and I put him back into the nest. The same thing 
happened again on the 3rd at about 12.30 noon, when the 
mother Musk-rat 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 Musk-rat 
which I took to be her mate was found crouching under a 
canoe. Mr. Tolman crawled in past both Musk-rats, passing 
within three feet of them without disturbing them. Two 
A 
