Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1893-03-23
AN oDORIFFERoUs SWIMMER.
The Muskrat and the Wiles Of Boys to
Entrap Him for His Skin.

That interesting rodent, the muskrat,
is plentiful all along the Atlantic coast
in spite of the fact that his skin has o
commercial value everywhere and his
| flesh is marketed in some regions south
of Mason and Dixons line. His enemies
in Delaware and Maryland call him the
mus'rat, without sounding the Ok" and
| he is variously called elsewhere mus
quash, muskbearer, and ondatra. Musk
rats are shot, trapped, and speared by
thousands all over the peninsula of Della
ware and Maryland, and sold in the
street market of Wilmington as "marsh
rabbits" The colored people are the
chief consumers of the muskrat in cities,
but in the country the flesh is eaten by
all sorts of people. 1t is sweet, tender,
and, according to local belief, entirely
clean and wholesome. Students of the
muskrat affirm that he carefully washes
all his food in running stream, if
possible, and that his habits generally
are Clearly.
Nearly all country stores in Delaware
and Maryland deal in muskrat skins, and
in some cases the larger storekeepers
send many thousands of them to Europe
every year. The approved method of
| drying the skin is to turn it fur side in,
over a pointed shingle, and the dried
skins look like counterless slippers.
Many country boy depends upon musk
rat skins for pocket money, though the
storekeepers prefer bartering for them to
paying in cash. The muskrat trade was
so valuable in times past that the marshes
upon which they have their burrows
rented for the privilege of muskrat
shooting The sport is best at night,
when the rats are out in search of food.
When there is an extraordinary flood tide
in Delaware Bay and its tributaries,
however, thousands of rats are driven
from their burrows, whether il be by day
or by night, and the slaughter is i'm.
mense. Now and then one sees black
object with snake-like appendage
moving rapidly beneath the ice of a
frozen pond, and the knowing boy
recognizes the creature as muskrat. A
sudden, sharp, and well-directed blow
| upon the ice over the muskrat's head
may stun him, and if followed closely,
he may be traced to his burrow, or to
the open water by which he reaches the
land. The muskrat cannot long remain
under water, and it is generally believed
that he does not permit the whole sur
face of any pond to freeze over when he
has his home on its bank.
| The muskrat is an excellent swimmer,
and only very expert or very lucky
sportsman is able to kill him in the water.
His hind feet are so placed that he is
able to feather the oars in swimming,
and this materially quickens his pace.
When ashore and suddenly alarmed he
recklessly flops into the water, making a
great noise and disappearing beneath the
surface to come up fifteen or twenty
yards away, or perhaps to enter his cell
by way of door opening under water.
This device he employs not because he
prefers that method of egress and ingress,
but merely by way of precaution. The
hallway of his dwelling crooks upward,
and the nest is a cosey place quite beyond
the reach of any ordinary food Doubt
less muskrats that have been driven out
| by unusually high water extend their
burrows further above the level of the
stream if they live to set up housekeep-
ing again. Il New York Sun.