The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-05-05
musKRATs AND THEIR WAYS.
NNw York san.

 New Jersey, He was brought up among them. He has seen every hole and corner inhabited by muskrats In Rancocas creek between Lumberton and Hameeport, in the county of Bur- lington. He trapped them for fur and fun, and sometimes for meat, He was in fun when he trapped them for meat, The other night he told some. thing of the habits of the rats to a 1 friend.
 "The muskrat Is peculiar sort of an animal" said Moore, "Hc has his home and takes good care of 1t, though as soon his children arc big enough they have to shift for themselves. All muskrats are, therefore, industrious, and with the exception of single failing, good citizens. Their houses are built along the creeks and at dis. tance look like ant hills. But when you get nearer to their houses you will see that they have thatche,l roofs upon base of mud and leaves shaped l like an acorn cut in half. There arc good many outside doors In their dwellings, and all of them arc under water. You can sce tho little paths 1 leading from their doors out into the deeper water of the creek. You can see the rats, too, ii they happcu to bc at home. Just send boy up on the bank and tell him to jump up and down on the top of the hut while you watch two or thrcc ot the paths at once. You oan do it easy enough sit. l ( to. tt..a Ia aka ft.if as tho paths are only few fcct apart, widening out as they get nearer the middle of the brook. Pretty soon after the boy begins to jump you will sec the rats scampering down the path for dear life.
 "Talk about the beauty of duck upon the water" continued the trap per, that's all nonsense. X muskrat Is the most graceful thing that swims, except possibly tho otter, and you hardly ever see an otter In these parts, If you know where there are number of rats, take a boat and a friend some moonlight night and go to the head of an old pond, where there Is plenty oi water, with pond lily pads along the shores. Sit quietly an hour, If neees- ary, keeping sharp lookout all the time. You will bc rewarded by seeing approaching you the point of a trlan- gle, widening gradually out to the base In 10000 little ripples, and every one lighted by sllvery moonbeam. A moment later you will see tne point of another triangle approaching the one nearest you duplicating the beauti- tul picture. Don't move. Tho point of the first triangle Is within dozen feet of your boat now, and the other only a little further away. The advance guard secs something unusual and stops. The rear or flank guard comes up and lays up alongside tho first rat, like boat at its mooring. The situ- ation Is new, and it arouscs the suspi- cion of your visitors. Ono of the muskrats advances n little, and the other draws into position again, both floating lazily upon the water, until, after they have turned face to face and then towards you once or twice, tho surface becomes "A circle of rlpplcs like that caused by throwing pebbles in the water. Absolute silence prevails until you make the slightest motion or movement. Then they skip. Noth- ing gets under water as gracefully as a muskrat. A moment after the rats dive the water Is ns smooth AS if it never had been agitatcd by two very cunning and very expert rodents. But the muskrat, with all his gracefu lness and beauty in the water, is rubber and sneak on land, and hc looks them both. -
 "Thc capacity of muskrats for mis- chief and actual harm is immense They especially destroy cranberry dams, and now and then they so hon. eycomb whole series Of these dams that they break away, involving an expense of thousands of dollars. Some times they burrow in mill dam un- til it bursts, and the water that was meant to turn the wheel goes out in flood. The mill stops and the milIer's tolls for year or two arc spent for desfructiyeness the muskrat would scarcely have aD enemy. The fur isn't worth much, and only few people, because of m an unaccou ntable preIu- dice, care to eat them.
 "When you come to talk about eat ing them," continued the trappcr, after pause, "Do finer, sweeter meat ever went on table. They are the cleanest animals alive. They wash everything before they eat 1t, and they use both animal and vegetable food The young and succuieDt shoots of the pond lily In the spring, aud :n autumn the pulp of the large roots of the but tercup lily, are avorites with the muskrat. But of all other diet, he probably prefers mnasels. Yon will often see at the under water base of an old stump along . creek quantity of