Connecticut western news., 1886-06-02
THE WILLY MUSKRAT.
How the Little Animal Is
 Trapped by Night.
The Muskrat's Haunts and Habits, and
 Use to Which His Skin is Put

Use to Which His Skin is Put
 Many young lady who moves around In the pround possession of presumed sealskin cap or huff is very grievously mistaken. The articles in question, in nine cases out of ten, never saw Alaska in any form. New Jersey or Maryland furnished the material to make them, for the hide of the despised and humble muskrat, when dressed by skillful hands, makes the best imitation of sealskins, an imitation so close, that the true is only from the false after the most careful examination. It is an equally egregious error to imagine that the New Jersey fisherman becomes dormant in winter time. On the contrary, he is wideawake and occupies his time trap ping muskrats. The salt marshes on the line of the Jersey coast are full of musk rats, and the supply seems to be inex- haustable. Muskrats are naturally herb- ivorous. They feed on land and water plants alike, in some instances using roots, stems and fruit. They are noted enemies of the 'bottom ground" farmer, for it is in his fields that corn grows most plentiful, and on that cereal muskrats love to feed. They eat corn at any time after it is planted, taking the seed from the ground or the young plant from the furrow. The greatest damage is done after the ear is we'll formed. Their food is not entirely vegetable, for in winter and early spring they subsist to great extent on the flesh of river mussels. The muskrat does not come out of his lair in the daytime, save on rare occasions. Sometimes on very dark cloudy days he may be seen swimming across the pond or down the stream with his head just above water. It is an ugly vicious look ing animal with white claws and long white teeth. He is fair swimmer and his capacity for staying under water is extraordinary. His home, if the stream or pond has high bank, is little hol- low place under ground, five or six feet from the waters edge, and the entrance is under water. The hallway, after it has penetrated the bank, curves gradual ly upward, and at it's end, in his snug little subterranean chamber, the muskrat spends his day sleeping or in storing away food for winter. It makes the trapper happy when he finds the entrances to these houses. When he finds one he places his trap just in the entrance. If the rat is caught he will probably drown, as the weight of the trap and his efforts to escape will tire him, and he will sink below water. A favorite method of catching the muskrat in his own house is to cut off the top of his domicile and bury the trap in the centre of his messy bed. The box trap is the favorite one for streams, as it is easily made, and sev- eral rats are often captured in single night. It consists of long straight box, made with entrances at both ends large enough to admit muskrat easily. In the ends are fixed gates made of stout wire, slanting toward the inside of the box which can be lifted up easily by the rat going in but cannot be opened out wardly. The box is sunk in the middle of stream and securely anchored by big stones being placed on its top. Then stakes are driven from the box to each side of the stream. The muskrat finds his way barred by the stakes, swims into the trap, discovers he c. mot get out, and drowns. The muskrat is no coward. If he is taken on dry groun l and the jaws of the trap have caught his leg pret- ty we'll down near the toe, the rat not being able to pull away will gnaw off his leg just above where the trap holds it. When found alive he fights desperately and requires many blow on the head te silence him. When there is no othel way of escape, he makes dash at the trapper's leg, and if he once catches hold his sharp white teeth sink into the bone and his strong jaws cling to the unfortu nate hunter with the tenacity of bull
 dog. The great trapping grounds for thu muskrat, however, arc along the low lands of Dorchester county, Maryland
 bordering Fishing Bay and its numerou
 tributaries, especially the Blackwater ant
 Nausquakin rivers. These marshes em
 brace portions of Lakes, Straits, Draw
 bridge and Bucktown districts, and i,
 area cover thousands of acres. The flu
 of the muskrat, which is of two kinds
 brown and black, the black being tn
 most valuable, is sold to travelling deal
 CTS for twelve to eighteen cents per skin
 About 75,Ooo skins have been sold il
 Dorchester county this season, and tn
 trappers are still busy. But no striplin,
 can hope to embark in the muskrat-trap
 ping business for it is one of hardshi
 and exposure, and the returns are smal
 indeed York MaH and Erpress.
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 A Desperate Move.
 "John," she said to the young ma,