The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-19

LIsql U! IsQlo qoss 4VsnoJ pIre psund efforts to get share of the coveted food.
 A few days afterwards, we had some warm weather, and the snow and ice melted from the surface of the lake. After that there came some clear, frosty nights. and again the lake was frozen over, this time with strong transparent ice. went to visit the muskrat house, and when came near it ran out upon the ice and leaped upon the dome of the little dwelling, shaking it to it's founda- tions. I. could hear no sound from the interior, but as I shook the structure, I saw three or four shadowy forms shoot ing outward through the water beneath the ice. Of course these were the rats, and managed to keep my eye on one of them as he paused close to fallen white birch log, close to the under sur face of the ice. He had been there per- haps minute, when the idea of timing him occurred to me, and I pulled out my watch. For three minutes there was not sign of movement, and then a few bubbles arose to the ice. About min ute later, some more bubbles came up, and then the animal himself floated up against the ice At five minutes from the time I took out the watch the rat lay without a sign of life, and began to be anxious for his safety. So I stamped my foot upon the ice; like a black streak he diVed and was gone. He had been under water at least six minutes, and by the way he diYed and swan away afterwards he seemed little the worse for the experience.
 In the spring the freshets came and the surface of the lake rose until the muskrat house was almost submerged. Then, one morning, it was washed from it's foundations and the lighter part of
 it floated far away. Then the muskrats
 took to the banks. and they dug long tunnels in the soft soil. Many of the
 tunnels had two openings, one at the top or side of the bank, and the other
 down under the water. The last was the one they usually used when enter l ing or leaving their home; the other
 served not only as a doorway occasion
 ally but as a air-shaft to ventilate the burrow. Sometimes, on warm evenings,
 would hide in the bushes near the bank and watch the rats swimming about,
 chasing one another, or lying flat on the | surface of the lake,
 Sometimes would see one, homeward
 bound. swim strait towards me until
 he was within few feet of the shore.
 when ke would dive, and presently I
 would hear certain hollow sound as he
 elambered into his burrow through the
 submerged entrance. And sometimes, i in the middle of the day would see a female rat gathering grass for her nest. i She would swim entirely to spot where grass was thick, and, landing, she would walk about, shedding the water from her shining coat and bite off tuft after tuft of grass, until her
 mouth would hold no more. Then she
 would launch herself into the water, swim to within short distance of her
 burrow and dive. A few minutes later she would reappear, and swim off for
 another load, &gI ....-. ... Tn the burrows in the banks, the
 young musktats are born. and I have
 seen these little fellows at many stag
 es of their iIffnaturity. At first they
 are blind and hairless, with very blunt
 noses and with short sturdy limbs and
 thickset bodies. When they begun to
 get their fur, they are pretty little crea-