688 
FOREST AND STREAM 
ice of the stream caves in, leaving an open 
space: then the muskrat will frequently come 
into the open air and will feed on roots and 
grasses, seated on the ice. In regard to the 
method of killing the muskrat when he blows 
his bubbles against the ice: this method is 
very little in use; however, I may be mistaken. 
In the early fall when the ponds are first frozen 
over the trapper or hunter goes out to the houses, 
beats on same with a club and when the inmates 
are frightened out he will follow one. When 
the animal rises to the ice the club is brought 
down on the spot where the bubble happens to 
be, shattering it. The muskrat lucklessly dies. 
This method is so commonly heard of that it 
is here given. The trapper, of course, cuts 
through the ice and brings out his victim. 
The muskrat can count its stay from extinc¬ 
tion from the fact that it is one of the most 
prolific members of the animal family, bringing 
forth young at least three times a year and 
having anywhere from five to ten young to the 
litter. The first young ones produce young 
themselves somewhere in the month of Septem¬ 
ber. The first young are born in March or April. 
Thus it can be seen that the population cannot 
but swell and thus hold back even the most exact¬ 
ing depredations. Many kits are caught in the 
fall months; these kittens follow their mothers, 
and I have often caught mother and son in 
traps, side by side. The muskrat is not exactly 
what one would be called upon to name as a 
carnivorous animal, but far be it from him to 
reject flesh and meat. I have often caught 
muskrats in traps baited with their own flesh 
and they have eaten of it too. However, the 
principal food of the muskrat is flagroot, reed 
roots, in fact, roots of every variety found near 
the streams or swamps, and even young tree 
shoots are not scorned. They are great lovers 
of vegetables and when a trap is baited with 
such, a catch is assured nine times out of ten, 
if a specimen should pass by. The swamp abode 
of the muskrat is singular indeed and gives us 
another insight into its very close connection, in 
relation, to the beaver. It is practically built 
on the same plan, looks like it in every respect 
and the inside is much the same. Indeed the 
connection is very pronounced. Some of these 
swamp domes rise to a height of six feet, some 
specimens I have seen on some of our great 
Minnesota swamps, being monsters in every sense 
of the word. These houses are built conical 
fashion, as I have said. They are composed of 
reeds, mud, and everything near at hand, avail¬ 
able for immediate use. Somehow the musk¬ 
rat can put a house in the middle of a swamp 
and 'find for it a firm foundation. As far as 
industriousness is concerned the muskrat takes 
his example from the beaver. Unceasingly the 
work continues throughout the summer; when 
the cold weather comes all is ready for the 
ermine blanket and the stiff northern gale. 
These houses, on the average, are a foot in- 
thickness ; the inner part is in the form of a 
very well perfected shell, which, when frozen, 
has the tenacity of adamant or concrete. It is 
this inner shell that does the good work of pro¬ 
tection. Within is found the feeding-bed where 
the rats eat their gathering of roots, and tender 
stalks, during the winter; the entrances to the 
feeding-bed, are, of course, under water, and there 
are usually two entrances, one opposite the other. 
In the big houses as many as ten muskrats find 
abode, and here the trapper reaps his harvest, 
providing he cuts into the house and there sets 
his traps. This is done by cutting in from the 
south side, making a hole through the thin inner 
shell large enough to put the hand through with 
the trap. The trap or traps are set all around 
in the feeding-bed; if it is a particularly big 
house, the chain rings are brought outside of 
the hole, a stick is run through them, same lying 
across the hole. Thus when the rats are cap- 
The Beaver—Another Inhabitant of the Reed Domes. 
