The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1893-07-21
THE MUSKRAT.

That interesting rodent, the musk
rat, is plentiful all along the Atlantic
coast in spite of the fact that his
skin has a commercial value every
where and his flesh is marketed in
some regions south of Mason and
Dixon's line. His enemies in Della
ware and Maryland call him the mus
rat, without sounding the Ok" and
he is variuusly called elsewhere mus
quash, muskbearer, and ondatra.
Muskrats are shot, trapped, and
speared by thousands all over the
peninsula of Delaware and Maryland,
and sold in the street market of Will
mington 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. It is sweet, tender, and, ac-
cording to local belief, entirely clean
and wholesome. Students of the
muskrat affirm that he carefully
washes all his food in a running stream,
if possible, and that his habits gener.
ally are clearly. sa roo
Nearly all country stores in Della
ware and Maryland deal in muskrat
skins, and in some cases the larger
send many thousands of
OAiChI W IIuIOPC xhC MP
proved method of drying the skin is
to turn it fur side in, over q pointed
shingle, and the dried skin looks like
counterless slippers. Many country
boy depends upon muskrat skins for
pocket money, though the storekeep-
ers prefer bartering for them to. pay
ing i'm cash. The muskrat trade was
so valuable in times past that the
marshes upon which they have their
burrows rented for the privileges OF
muskrat shooting. The sport is best
at night, when the rats are out in
search of food. When there is an ex-
traordinary flood ii lie in Delaware
Bay and its tributaries, however,
thousands of rats are driven from their
burrows, whether it be by day or by
night, and the slaughter is immense.
Now and then one sees black object
with snake-like appeDdage 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 re-
main under water, and III is generally
believed that he does not permit the
whole surface of any pond to freeze
over when he has his home on its
bank.
The muskrat is an excellent swim
mer, and only very expert or a 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 quick
ems his pace. When ashore and sud-
denly alarmed he recklessly iops into
the water, making great noise and
disappearing beneath the surface to
come up fifteen or twenty yards away,
or perhaps to enter his cell by way of
a door opening under water. This de-
vice he employs not because he pre-
fers that method of egress and ingress,
but merely by way Of precaution.
The hallway of his dwelling crooks
upward, and the nest is cosey place
quite beyond the reach of any ordi
nary flood. Doubtless muskrats that
have been driven out by unusually
high water extend their burrows fur
ther above the level of the stream il
they live to set up housekeeping again.