The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-02-09
INHABITANT OF WILD FOWL BAY
Animal Builds Two Rooms and Pas
age-Official Decision Makes Entire
Establishment Forbidden Ground to
Trapper

IT has to do with the apartments-eat-
ing sleep and otherwise-of the musk
rat, long famed as the toothsome les
tive Monroe resident.
The rats that Carton inquiries about
are inhabitants Of Wild Fowl Bay. in
the lee of Sand Point, which pushes
its nose out from Huron County. into
Saginaw Bay. The last Legislature
placed the rats and other deniZens of
the waters in Wild Fowl Bay under
the protection OF the Land Commits
sioner's office, and Carton rushes to
the rescue Of his charges
He says the residents of the State,
who hunt, fish and trap in Wild Fowl
Bay, do not agree with the ruling
made by the Attorney General, which
prohibits the killing Of or trapping
muskrats within eight feet of the
doors OF the rats-not the hunters
houses. And, besides, Carton says in
his letter there is some doubt as tc
| just what a muskrat house iss like
The Attorney General rules that all
the apartments and passages consti.
tute the muskrat house. The letter is,
in part, as follows:
'It is a well known fact to every
close observer Of the habits and mode
of living of the muskrat that he has
two apartments which he uses for diff
! ferent purposes. Each apartment, or
so-called house is for a different pur-
pose.
"In the fall OF the year the muskrat
makes his preparatiO for the win er
| by the construction OF his sleeping
/ apartment in the marsh or shallow wa
ter. This sleeping apartment is built
of marsh grass and other material,
with the foundation on the ground,
and is, in size and thickness, as the
instinct Of the muskrat would lead
him to believe, the severity of the
winter requires.
| "As soon as ice forms on the shall
| low water in the marsh the feeding
| apartment is built partly above and
| partly below the ice. The distance
from the sleeping npartm ents and the
feeding apartments or kitchens varies
from one to four or five rods, and the
number of eating apartments varies
with the number of rats that live in
the sleeping apartment
THE feeding apartment might be
said to have a threefOld use: First,
II is a storehouse and the eating apart
ment of the muskrat; second, it pre-
serves hole in the ice from which
the rat procures air; third, in case OF
high water, which raises the ice in a
great many cases and submerges the
sleeping apartment, it preserves tenn
porary quarters for the rat to live in
during the time his sleeping apart
ment is submerged.
Joining the sleeping and eating
apartments there is a submarine pas
sage under the ice, through which the
rat journeys every day to his meals
Not alone does the rat depend upon
the distance between the ice and the
ground for his passageway, but he
digs out a little ditch in the ground
through which he can travel, for his
animal instinct tells him that the wind
may shift and the water lower to such
a degree in the marsh that the ice may
lie fiat upon the ground. If he does
cavation in the earth his passageway
from his sleeping apartment to his
kitchen and stoTehouse will be shut
off in such a case.
while it is essential that the musk
rat have a house to sleep in during
the cold winter, under certain condi-
tions it is more essential that he had
II 80 l. ,s.rl,
water, he can live for a limited time
in his eating apartment, and while It
is not as warm as his sleeping apart
ment he has the three things neces-
ssry to his existence, shelter. air and
food.
"Trappers and hunters have taken
1t upon themselves to interpret the
law in a manner that would give them
the right To set traps in the eating
apartment and to also spear rats in
the eating apartment. as we'll as to de-
stroy the sAting apartment ef the
muskrat.
Does the eating apartm emit the
sleeping apartment and the subma-
rine passage constitute and make up
the rat house. In the meaning q the
lswf
'Is II contrary to law to destroy
one apartment more than another?
Has the trapper OF hunter any
right to destroy the feeding apartment.
spear rats In the feeding apartment or
set traps In the feeding apartments
Have the hunters any right to
treat the submarine passage, or the
feeding apartment and storehouss,
and temporary abode OF the muskrat
in high water, any differently thGn
they do the sleeping apartment q this
animhlf
"In the interests ef the muskrat an