330 
DEC. 44 
MOOBE’S 
BUBAL 
NEW-YORKEB. 
1C 
«)v» 
FUR-BEARING ANIMALS-IX. 
THE MUSKRAT. 
Fiber Zlbenthlcus. LIMR. 
The Muskrat abounds in the regions of 
North America between the 30th and GOth 
degrees of latitude, except in some por¬ 
tions of the Southeastern States. The body 
of a full-grown animal is about fifteen inch¬ 
es long; tail ten inches The body is thick 
and round, with a short head and indistinct 
neck; incisors large; eyes small, lateral; 
ears short, and hidden by the fur; thighs 
hidden in the body; legs very short, so that 
when the animal walks the body touches 
the ground; legs and feet covered with 
short, shiny hair; hind feet with toes flat¬ 
tened and partly palinated; boIob and toes 
margined wl*b rigid hairs; claws strong; 
tail large, flattened laterally, larger in the 
middle, tapering to a point at extremity; 
it is covered with small, brown scales, in¬ 
terspersed with short, black hairs. The 
peculiar secretion which gives this animal 
its name, is found in glands at the root of 
the tail. TkiB musky fluid is more abund¬ 
ant in Spring than in the Fall. The whole 
body is covered with short, downy fur, in¬ 
termixed with longer and coarser hairs; 
its skin Bomewhat resembling that of a 
beaver. 
When viewed from above it appears of a 
general dark-brown color with a reddish 
tint on the sides and legs; under-surfacc 
ashy; incisors yellow ; nails white. In color 
it so uearly resembles that of the muddy 
banks it frequents, as often to be mistaken 
for a lump of earth. Individuals are some¬ 
times of a cream-color. A friend of mine, 
in trapping one season, caught three or 
four of this description in a catch of two 
or three hundred. 
The Muskrat is an aquatic animal, Its 
stout tail and muscular bind legs furnish¬ 
ing it means of locomotion in water, from 
which it is protected by its thick, downy 
fur. Its movements on land are slow and 
awkward, and with its tail trailing on the 
ground and feet wide apart, it makes a sin¬ 
gular track; if in snow or mud the mark 
of its low-set body is seen. Along swift 
streams and by clear water Muskrats live 
in burrows; hut iu marshes and ponds and 
along sluggish streams they build houses 
formed of sticks, rushes, leaves of the ar¬ 
rowhead and pond lily and other aquatic 
plants, which they stick well together with 
mud. In the center is a comfortable cham¬ 
ber, entered only through a hole from be¬ 
low the surface of the water. This is the 
winter home, more than one family build¬ 
ing and occupying the same house. Near 
by in the bank is a burrow with numerous 
and extensive galleries, to which they re¬ 
tire when driven from their houses by 
hunters, or flooded out by high waters. 
These burrows always have their entrance 
under water, and sometimes are rods in 
length, though at no great depth below the 
surface of the bank. The house when com¬ 
pleted is three or four feet above the water, 
and looks like a small hay cook. If de¬ 
stroyed by hunters, the repairs are begun 
the next night and proceed so rapidly that 
the dwelling Is usually restored by morn¬ 
ing. The houses are usually washed away 
by the high water iu the Spring and are re¬ 
built every seaBou. 
The Muskrat Is chiefly nocturnal, though 
in the day it is not uncommon to catch 
a glimpse of It as it moves rapidly through 
the water, or dives suddenly to the month 
of its hole. It feeds In Summer npon the 
leaves of various water plants, the arrow¬ 
head being an especial favorite, and some¬ 
times, wandering on the land in quest of 
food, it eats grasses, and if found conveni¬ 
ent, it relishes Indian corn, melons and 
other garden vegetables. It consumes great 
quantities of muscles in some of our rivers. 
Collecting thorn from the bottom, it carries 
them iu its teeth to a log or 6tone, where, 
sitting upon its haunches and grasping 
them in Its forepaws, it skillfully opens the 
shell with its incisors. The greatest injury 
it commits la by burrowiug in embank- 
ments formed to oonflne water, mill-dams 
being often much damaged in this way. 
During the Winter, several families live in 
the same house, but when warm weather 
comes on, they pair and take to their bur¬ 
rows, where t hey rear their young, of which 
they have from three to six iu a litter, and 
not unfrequently three litters in a season. 
The Muskrat is courageous when attack¬ 
ed, males often have fleroe battles with 
eaoh other. Its chief enemies in water, are 
the mink and the otter; upon land, it is 
captured by various mammals and rapa¬ 
cious birds. When flint guns were used it 
wan almost impossible to shoot one while 
in the water, so inst&ncously do they dive 
upon the slightest alarm ; but they cannot 
do this quickly enough to escape the per¬ 
cussion gun, at medium range and with 
heavy shot or a ball. 
easy range, by imitating their cry, which 
resembles that of a young puppy. 
A Muskrat raised a litter of young in a 
small pond of some half-dozen rods in ex¬ 
tent, near roy house. I used to place sweet 
applies on the water's edge for them, which 
the young rats were not long in finding, and 
soon became so tame that they would come 
at my call, and, after a while, would swim 
THE MUSKRAT. 
The Muskrat is one of the easiest of ani¬ 
mals; to entrap, and is caught iu the box- 
trap* and dead-)all , but oftenest in the 
common steel-trap. The proper time to 
trup them iB from the middle of February 
or first of March, to the middle of April. 
The fur is then prime and the rats are full 
grown. The traps are set on logs, lying 
partly In the water, on which is seen the 
"sign” or excrement of the rats, which re¬ 
sembles that of the Norway rat, only that it 
is larger, on bogs, on “feeding beds,” which 
are formed by the rats of sedges and water 
plants and on which they sit to feed, and 
also in their burrows. When set on a log, 
the trap is placed in a notch cut to receive 
It, and the top of the pan should be from 
one and a-hulf to two Inches under water. 
This is the proper depth In all places. The 
ring of the trap chain is slipped on to a 
stick having a hook left near the bottom, 
and a crotch at the top, and technically 
called the “tally-pole.” The sharpened 
lower end of this is thrust firmly into the 
bottom in water deep enough to drown the 
Muskrat; otherwise it will guaw off its leg 
and escape. 
During the last of September, wishing to 
obtain a specimen from which to make a 
drawing, 1 set two traps on “ feeding beds” 
surrounded by a thick growth of button 
bush and where there was little chance for 
the animal to drown, but which were the 
best places I could then find; the conBe- 
quenoe was that, visiting the traps the next 
morning, I found in one the end of a tail, 
and in the other a fore-leg; the animals 
having gained their liberty at the expense 
of the imprisoned members. 1 removed 
one of the traps to a “feeding bed” where 
there was deeper water and no bushes, and 
the next morning found, drowned, the 
original of the accompanying portrait. 
Muskrats are also trapped in t heir bouses 
and hi their burrows in the Fall; but a 
large proportion of those taken are so young 
and small as to be nearly worthless. A lit¬ 
tle of the animal’s musk placed near the 
trap will attract them. Thu Northern In¬ 
dians spear them iu Winter iu their houses, 
using a one-tiued spear with strong barbs 
noar the point. This is thrust through the 
side of the houBe and seldom fails to trans¬ 
fix one or more of the unsuspecting in¬ 
mates ; a hole is then chopped t hrough and 
the game secured. In localities where they 
are plenty, numbers of muskrats may be 
seen swimming about; toward the close of 
warm days in early Spring and consider¬ 
able sport may be had in shooting them at 
such times. They may bo called within 
* In the article on the Raccoon, " box-trap” should 
ho “ Fox-trap.” The box-trap Is a wouuon affair 
much UBect by boys. 
up and take the apples from my hand. Cold 
weather closed the pond and I saw no more 
of my musky pets till the next Spring 
when they were full grown and wild as any 
of their ancestors. The whole family shortly 
left, probably for wider waters, and I saw 
no more of them. Muskrats sometimes 
wander a long way from their homes, and 
are occasionally seen following the course 
of very small brooks. A neighbor of ours 
once caught one in a trap set for the com¬ 
ment rat, in a meal-tab In his hog-house. 
This was more than a mile front any stream 
inhabited by these animals. It Is a common 
belief that Muskrats hove fore-knowledge 
of the earlmess and severity of Winter and 
build their houses accordingly earlier in the 
season and with thicker walls; and, also, if 
the water is to bo unusually high, they will 
build their houses of greater higbt. But 
their iiiBtinct is certainly not infallible, for 
last Winter great numbers were frozen iuto 
their houses and died of starvation, iu the 
marshes of our nearest stream, “Little Ot¬ 
ter Creek;” and it is not a very unfrequent 
occurrence that they are Hooded out of 
their houses in great Winter thaws. 
Muskrat skins are not iu such high repute 
as several years ago, when they were exten¬ 
sively used In this country and exported in 
largo numbers to England to be made iuto 
“ beaver” hats. They now bring "from ten 
to thirty cents apiece, according to the 
season In whioh they are taken. The flesh 
is dark and uot very inviting-looking meat, 
but to my taste it is very palatable. The 
Indians prefer it to most any other kind of 
game, and will not eat duck if they can get 
the “Musquash," as they call this animal. 
The musky secretion iB saved by some t rap¬ 
pers, and it is said they sometimes realize 
as much from that as from the skius. It is 
sold for perfumery, doubtless under the 
name of Civet Musk, and most likely it Is 
just as good as that. R. 
--• 
NOTES FOR NATURALISTS. 
Fleas on Cats.—Our cats are liberally 
covered with fleas. Does any ouo know 
anything that will kill them or drive them 
away? 1 thought that perhaps they might 
be washed in something that would be dis¬ 
agreeable to the fleas; some one said pen¬ 
nyroyal tea would do it; so the children 
washed them with that, but it had no effect. 
—Florence B. 
Titv diluted carbolic acid. 
English Sparrows having been intro¬ 
duced into Australia, great complaint re¬ 
sults because of their destruction of fruit. 
Snails In Paris.—The annual sale of 
snails in Paris for food is computed to be 
LJ,0tK> francs. 
To one accustomed to drpam of a farm 
and a farm life as au Olympian feast, a Ily- 
mettus, flowing with milk and honey, it is 
often a sad disenchantment to become ac¬ 
quainted with what is too often the reality. 
One is astonished to find pork and chickens 
to be the almost invariable alternates. 
Pork is the staple, and this in face of the 
fact that intelligent farmers who, of all 
people wo have, read most, know It to be, 
in its best estate, the most innutritlous of 
diets. Its unsuitableness as an article of 
food has been so often shown to us by chem¬ 
ists and physiologists that. It is scarce worth 
while repeating, that it requires five hours 
and fifteen minutes for digestion on a 
healthy stomach; that on a weak one it 
scarcely digests at all, but lies and festers; 
that its nutritive qualities are of the poor¬ 
est; that the diseased liVers of swine (for 
they are nearly always diseased) are a fruit¬ 
ful cause of “ billiousness.” The normal 
condition of a hog is putridity. Ilia cl¬ 
ement is filth. Ho lives in, breathes, and 
caU dirt, and yet farmers will persist in 
using him, absorbing his marrow into their 
most delicate tissues. They utilize him 
(he is so very precious) to his very hoofs. 
The house is filled with the savor of head¬ 
cheese, and sausage, and ham, mid tender¬ 
loin, and bacon, and the household econo¬ 
my t ravails with grease and hard work be¬ 
cause of him, and thus they make a staple 
of what is, hygienioally, their greatest 
enemy. 
Now, on unusual occasions, such as the 
advent of the, prodigal son, or the city 
guest, the swine secret is rarely told, but a 
show side is presented of chickens! Ah I 
chickens! As swine among quadrupeds, 
so chicken among fowls is most impure. 
If left to range at will a "diet of worms ” 
is their purest meal. Untold quantities of 
the most disgusting ingredients go into 
their gizzards. The vilest compost enters 
into their very marrow. So chicken broth 
is not the qulntescence of purities. Now, 
the ruminating animals eat only grass and 
grain; their meat is almost as pure as 
bread. Why not lot a diet of beef, or lamb, 
(yes, lamb, thrifty farmer!) be the rule, 
! rather than the exception ? 11 is quite cer¬ 
tain that economic reasons alone govern 
this matter. Tliy swine secret its, cheapness. 
Ix it cheap? To estimate the dearness of 
an article by its first cost is the most su¬ 
perficial of financiering. The fact that 
nothing is cheap which breaks down, rath¬ 
er than builds up tho tissues and destroys 
the vitality is enough. The “ doctor’s” bill 
goes the hardest of all the expenses, and 
there is a greater relation than we think 
between pork and calomel! Who abstains 
from beef soup, loses an important essence 
of physical lire; and yet, how rarely it is 
seen upon a farmer’s table I The farmer 
and his servants must labor from dawu till 
sunset, with nothing better to sustain them 
than pork and cukes and pies! Why does 
the farmer bo often say, 
“We are so far from market, we cau’t 
get fresh?” 
My dear farmer, what are the villagers 
eating down there but the very calf you 
sold last week to the butcher? Why not 
sell the swine and chickens, (if somebody 
must have them,) and keep the calves and 
beef aud good fat sheep? Arc you not as 
good as the villagers that you ounuot eat 
the fatted calf? How can you make your 
money in a dearer way than by selling your 
bent lood t 
“You cannot keep so much, it would 
spoil? ” 
In Winter you can keep meat fresh a 
long time, (all Winter, in fact,) by packing 
it In barrels with straw, and setting it 
where it will remain frozen, keeping it 
tightly covered, so that dogs or other ani¬ 
mals oauuot forage upon it. In Hummer it 
can be salted; and although cured meats 
are not wholesome, they are less deleteri¬ 
ous than pork. But fresh meats could be 
easily secured the season through, by neigh¬ 
borhood co-operation. Iu uot too sparsely 
settled districts an agreement could bo 
made whereby each family should obligate 
himself to have something ready at Btated 
times for his own and the neighboring fam¬ 
ilies, thus securing a succession of “mar¬ 
kets ” to all. I.Rian Lake. 
Geneva Lake, Wisconsin. 
Women should keep their feet dry and 
warm—no matter how “olumsey” they 
may look if properly clad. Try this 
be happier and healthier. 
