West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-05-04
MusKRATs AND THEIR WAYS.

between LumbertOn and Hainesport,
in the county of Burlington. He
trapped them for fur and fun, and
sometimes for meat. He was in fun
when he trapped them for meat.
The other night be told something
of the habits of the rats to friend.
The muskrat is peculiar sort
of an animal" said Moore. He
has his. home and takes good care
of it, though as soon as his children
are big enough they have TO shift
for themselves. All muskrats are,
therefore, Industrious, and, with the
exception of a single failing, good
citizens. Their houses are built
along the creeks and at a distance
look like ant hills. But when you
get nearer to their houses you will
see that they have matched roofs
upon base of mud and leaves
shaped like an acorn cut in half
There are good many outside
doors to their dwellings, and all Of
them under water. You can see the
little paths leading from their doors
out into the deeper water of the
creek. You can see the rats, too, if
they happen to be 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 three of the paths at once. You
can do it easy enough sitting in q
boat when the sun is shining, as the
paths are only q few feet apart,
widening out as they get nearer the
middle of the brook. Pretty soon
after the boy begins to jump you
will see the rats seampering down
the paths for dear life.
Talk about the beauty of a duck
upon the water" continued the
trapper, chats all nonsense. A
muskrat is the most graceful thing
that swims, except possibly the OF
ter, and You hardly ever see an OF
ter in these parts. II you know
where there are a number of rats,
take boat and friend some moon
light night and go to the head of an
old pond, where there is plenty OF
water, with pond lily pads along the
shores. Sit quietly an hour, if nee
essary, keeping a sharp lookout all
the time. You will be rewarded by
seeing approaching you the point of
a triangle, widening gradually out
to the base in ten thousand little
ripples, and every one lighted by a
silvtry moonbeam. A moment later
you will see the point ofanOther tri-
angle approaching the one nearest
you duplicating the beautiful pic
ture. Don't move. The point Of
the first triangle is within dozen
feet of your boat now, and the other
only a little farther away. The ad-
vance guard sees something unusual
and stops. The rear or flank guard
comes up and lays alongside the first
rat, like boat at its mooring. The
situation is new, and it arouses the
suspicion of your visitors. One of
the muskrats advances little, and
the other draws into position again,
both floating lazily upon the water,
until, after they have turned face to
face and then toward you once or
twice, TIE surface becomes a circle
ofripples like that caused by throw
ing pebble in the water. Abso-
lutte silence prevails until you make
the slightest motion or movement.
Then they skip. Nothing gets un-
der the water as gracefully as a
muskrat. A moment after the rats
dive the water is as smooth as if it
had never been agitated by two very
cunning and very expert rodents.
But the muskrat, with all his grace
fitness and beauty in the water, is
a lubber and sneak on land and
he looks them both.
The capacity of muskrats for
mischief and actual harm is i'm
mense. They especially destroy
cranberry dams, and now and then
they so honeycomb a whole series of
these dams that they break away,
involving an expense of thousands
of dollars. Sometimes they burrow
in mill dam until it bursts, and
the water that was meant to turn
the wheel goes out in a food. The
mill stops, and the miller's tolls for
a year or two are spent for repairs.
If it was not for this sort of de-
structiveness the muskrat would
have scarcely an enemy. The fur
isn't worth much, and only a few
people, because of an unaccountabie
prejudice, care to eat them.
when you come to talk about
eating them" continued the trapper
after a pause, mo finer, sweeter
meat ever went on table. They
are the cleanest animals alive.
They wash everything before they
eat it, and they use both animal and
vegetable food. TheyOung and sue
eulent shoots of the pond lily in the
spring, and in autumn the pulp of
the large roots of the buttercup lily,
are favorites with the muskrat
But of all other diet, he probably
rrnfers nnnssels Ynn will nften see