Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-04-01
AN oDoRrFFERoUs SWIMMER.
The Muskrat and the Wiles OF BOYS 'c
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 |
commercial value everywhere and his
flesh is marketed in some regions south |
of Mason and Dixon's line. His enemies
in Delaware and Maryland call HIM the
mus'rat. without sounding the TX" and
he is variously called elsewhere mus
ouasb muskbcarer, and ondatra.. Musk
rats are shot, trapped, and speared by
thousands all over the peninsula OF Deia-
ware and Maryland, and sold N 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, II
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
driving the skin is to turn it fur side IN,
over a pointed single, 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
paving 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
a shooting The sport is best at night,
t when the rats are out in search of food.
, When there is an extraordinary flood tide
1 in Delaware Bay and its tributaries,
y however, thousands of rats are driven
I from their burrows, whether it be by day
u or by night, and the slaughter is i'm
v mense Now and then one sees black
s object with a snake-like appendage
y moving rapidly beneath the ice of {
/ frozen pond, and the knowing boy
q recognizes the creature as a muskrat. A
h sudden, sharp, and well-directed blow
IL upon the ice over the muskrats hea(
NAV stun him, and if followed closely
J. he NAV be traced to his burrow, or t.
10 the open water by which he reaches the
L land The muskrat cannot long remai1
g under water, and it is generally believe'
II that he does not permit the whole sur
IS face of any pond to freeze over when h
:, has his home on its bank.
p The muskrat is an excellent swimmer
Is and only very expert or very luck
N sportsman is able to kill him in the water
nc His hind feet are so placed that he
able to feather the oars in swimming
te and this materially quickens his pace
az When ashore and suddenly alarmed h
D, recklessly fops into the water, making
al great noise and disappearing beneath tn
surface to come up fifteen or twent
D. yards away, or perhaps to enter his ce
Tn by way of a door opening under waite
as This device he employs not because
Id prefers that method of egress and ingres
lg but merely by way of precauton. III
'ie hallway of his dwelling crooks upward
ms and the nest is cosey place quite beyon
II the reach of any ordinary flood. Doub
US less muskrats that have been driven OF
od by unusually high water extend the
un burrows further above the level of Il
mt stream if they live to set up housekee
III, ing again. i New York Sun.