Our next day's march was unenlivened by any particular incident. We had
left behind us the heavy timber, and again travelled through the "oak
openings." Not an animal was started during the whole day, and the only
one seen was a muskrat that took to the water of a small creek and
escaped. This occurred at the spot where we had halted for our
night-camp, and after the tents were pitched, several of the party went
"rat-hunting." The burrow of a family of these curious little animals
was discovered in the bank, and an attempt was made to dig them out, but
without success. The family proved to be "not at home."
The incident, however, brought the muskrat on the _tapis_.
The "muskrat" of the States is the musquash of the fur-traders (_Fiber
sibethicus_). He is called muskrat, from his resemblance to the common
rat, combined with the musky odour which he emits from glands situated
near the anus. Musquash is said to be an Indian appellative--a strange
coincidence, as the word, "musk" is of Arabic origin, and "musquash"
would seem a compound of the French _musque_, as the early Canadian
fur-traders were French, or of French descent, and fixed the
nomenclature of most of the fur-bearing animals of that region.
Naturalists have used the name of "Musk Beaver" on account of the many
points of resemblance which this animal bears to the true beaver
(_Castor fiber_). Indeed, they seem to be of the same genus, and so
Linnaeus classed them; but later systematists have separated them, for
the purpose, I should fancy, not of simplifying science, but of creating
the impression that they themselves were very profound observers.
The teeth--those great friends of the closet naturalist, which help him
to whole pages of speculation--have enabled him to separate the beaver
from the musquash, although the whole history and habits of these
creatures prove them to be congeners, as much as a mastiff is the
congener of a greyhound--indeed, far more. So like are they in a
general sense, that the Indians call them "cousins."
In form the muskrat differs but little from the beaver. It is a thick,
rounded, and flat-looking animal, with blunt nose, short ears almost
buried in the fur, stiff whiskers like a cat, short legs and neck, small
dark eyes, and sharply-clawed feet. The hinder ones are longest, and
are half-webbed. Those of the beaver are full-webbed.
There is a curious fact in connection with the tails of these two
animals. Both are almost naked of hair, and covered with "scales," and
both are flat. The tail of the beaver, and the uses it makes of this
appendage, are things known to every one. Every one has read of its
trowel-shape and use, its great breadth, thickness, and weight, and its
resemblance to a cricket-bat. The tail of the muskrat is also naked,
covered with scales, and compressed or flattened; but instead of being
horizontally so, as with the beaver, it is the reverse; and the thin
edges are in a vertical plane. The tail of the former, moreover, is not
of the trowel-shape, but tapers like that of the common rat. Indeed,
its resemblance to the house-rat is so great as to render it a somewhat
disagreeable object to look upon.
Tail and all, the muskrat is about twenty inches in length; and its body
is about half as big as that of a beaver. It possesses a strange power
of contracting its body, so as to make it appear about half its natural
size, and to enable it to pass through a chink that animals of much
smaller dimensions could not enter.
Its colour is reddish-brown above, and light-ash underneath. There are
eccentricities, however, in this respect. Specimens have been found
quite black, as also mixed and pure white. The fur is a soft, thick
down, resembling that of the beaver, but not quite so fine. There are
long rigid hairs, red-coloured, that overtop the fur; and these are also
sparely scattered over the tail.
The habits of the muskrat are singular--perhaps not less so than those
of his "cousin" the beaver, when you strip the history of the latter of
its many exaggerations. Indeed the former animal, in the domesticated
state, exhibits much greater intelligence than the latter.
Like the beaver, it is a water animal, and is only found where water
exists; never among the dry hills. Its "range" extends over the whole
continent of North America, wherever "grass grows and water runs." It
is most probable it is an inhabitant of the Southern Continent, but the
natural history of that country is still but half told.
Unlike the beaver, the race of the muskrat is not likely soon to become
extinct. The beaver is now found in America, only in the remotest parts
of the uninhabited wilderness. Although formerly an inhabitant of the
Atlantic States, his presence there is now unknown; or, if occasionally
met with, it is no longer in the beaver dam, with its cluster of social
domes, but only as a solitary creature, a "terrier beaver,"
ill-featured, shaggy in coat, and stunted in growth.
The muskrat, on the contrary, still frequents the settlements. There is
hardly a creek, pond, or watercourse, without one or more families
having an abode upon its banks. Part of the year the muskrat is a
social animal; at other seasons it is solitary. The male differs but
little from the female, though he is somewhat larger, and better furred.
In early spring commences the season of his loves. His musky odour is
then strongest, and quite perceptible in the neighbourhood of his haunt.
He takes a wife, to whom he is for ever after faithful; and it is
believed the connection continues to exist during life. After the
"honeymoon" a burrow is made in the bank of a stream or pond; usually in
some solitary and secure spot by the roots of a tree, and always in such
a situation that the rising of the water cannot reach the nest which is
constructed within. The entrance to this burrow is frequently under
water, so that it is difficult to discover it. The nest within is a bed
of moss or soft grasses. In this the female brings forth five or six
"cubs," which she nourishes with great care, training them to her own
habits. The male takes no part in their education; but during this
period absents himself, and wanders about alone. In autumn the cubs are
nearly full-grown, and able to "take care of themselves." The "old
father" now joins the family party, and all together proceed to the
erection of winter quarters. They forsake the "home of their nativity,"
and build a very different sort of a habitation. The favourite site for
their new house, is a swamp not likely to freeze to the bottom, and if
with a stream running through it, all the better. By the side of this
stream, or often on a little islet in the midst, they construct a
dome-shaped pile, hollow within, and very much like the house of the
beaver. The materials used are grass and mud, the latter being obtained
at the bottom of the swamp or stream. The entrance to this house is
subterranean, and consists of one or more galleries debouching under the
water. In situations where there is danger of inundation, the floor of
the interior is raised higher, and frequently terraces are made to admit
of a dry seat, in case the ground-floor should get flooded. Of course
there is free egress and ingress at all times, to permit the animal to
go after its food, which consists of plants that grow in the water close
at hand.
The house being completed, and the cold weather having set in, the whole
family, parents and all, enter it, and remain there during the winter,
going out only at intervals for necessary purposes. In spring they
desert this habitation and never return to it.
Of course they are warm enough during winter while thus housed, even in
the very coldest weather. The heat of their own bodies would make them
so, lying as they do, huddled together, and sometimes on top of one
another, but the mud walls of their habitations are a foot or more in
thickness, and neither frost nor rain can penetrate within.
Now, a curious fact has been observed in connection with the houses of
these creatures. It shows how nature has adapted them to the
circumstances in which they may be placed. By philosophers it is termed
"instinct"; but in our opinion it is the same sort of instinct which
enables Mr Hobbs to pick a "Chubb" lock. It is this:--
In southern climates--in Louisiana, for instance--the swamps and rivers
do not freeze over in winter. There the muskrat does not construct such
houses as that described, but is contented all the year with his burrow
in the banks. He can go forth freely and seek his food at all seasons.
In the north it is different. There for months the rivers are frozen
over with thick ice. The muskrat could only come out under the ice, or
above it. If the latter, the entrance of his burrow would betray him,
and men with their traps, and dogs, or other enemies, would easily get
at him. Even if he had also a water entrance, by which he might escape
upon the invasion of his burrow, he would drown for want of air.
Although an amphibious animal, like the beaver and otter, he cannot live
altogether under water, and must rise at intervals to take breath. The
running stream in winter does not perhaps furnish him with his favourite
food--the roots and stems of water-plants. These the swamp affords to
his satisfaction; besides, it gives him security from the attacks of men
and preying animals, as the wolverine and fisher. Moreover, his house
in the swamp cannot be easily approached by the hunter--man--except when
the ice becomes very thick and strong. Then, indeed, is the season of
peril for the muskrat, but even then he has loopholes of escape. How
cunningly this creature adapts itself to its geographical situation! In
the extreme north--in the hyperborean regions of the Hudson's Bay
Company--lakes, rivers, and even springs freeze up in winter. The
shallow marshes become solid ice, congealed to their very bottoms. How
is the muskrat to get under water there? Thus, then, he manages the
matter:--
Upon deep lakes, as soon as the ice becomes strong enough to bear his
weight, he makes a hole in it, and over this he constructs his
dome-shaped habitation, bringing the materials up through the hole, from
the bottom of the lake. The house thus formed sits prominently upon the
ice. Its entrance is in the floor--the hole which has already been
made--and thus is kept open during the whole season of frost, by the
care and watchfulness of the inmates, and by their passing constantly
out and in to seek their food--the water-plants of the lake.
This peculiar construction of the muskrat's dwelling, with its
water-passage, would afford all the means of escape from its ordinary
enemies--the beasts of prey--and, perhaps, against these alone nature
has instructed it to provide. But with all its cunning it is, of
course, outwitted by the superior ingenuity of its enemy--man.
The food of the muskrat is varied. It loves the roots of several
species of _nymphae_, but its favourite is _calamus_ root (_calamus_ or
_acorus aromaticus_). It is known to eat shell-fish, and heaps of the
shells of fresh-water muscles (_unios_) are often found near its
retreat. Some assert that it eats fish, but the same assertion is made
with regard to the beaver. This point is by no means clearly made out;
and the closet naturalists deny it, founding their opposing theory, as
usual, upon the teeth. For my part, I have but little faith in the
"teeth," since I have known horses, hogs, and cattle greedily devour
both fish, flesh, and fowl.
The muskrat is easily tamed, and becomes familiar and docile. It is
very intelligent, and will fondly caress the hand of its master.
Indians and Canadian settlers often have them in their houses as pets;
but there is so much of the rat in their appearance, and they emit such
a disagreeable odour in the spring, as to prevent them from becoming
general favourites. They are difficult to cage up, and will eat their
way out of a deal box in a single night. Their flesh, although somewhat
musky, is eaten by the Indians and white hunters, but these gentry eat
almost everything that "lives, breathes, and moves." Many Canadians,
however, are fond of the flesh.
It is not for its flesh that the muskrat is so eagerly hunted. Its fur
is the important consideration. This is almost equal to the fur of the
beaver in the manufacture of hats, and sells for a price that pays the
Indians and white trappers for the hardships they undergo in obtaining
it. It is, moreover, used in the making of boas and muffs, as it
somewhat resembles the fur of the pine marten or American sable
(_Mustela martes_), and on account of its cheapness is sometimes passed
off for the latter. It is one of the regular articles of the Hudson's
Bay Company's commerce, and thousands of muskrat skins are annually
obtained. Indeed, were it not that the animal is prolific and difficult
to capture, its species would soon suffer extermination.
The mode of taking it differs from that practised in trapping the
beaver. It is often caught in traps set for the latter, but such a
"catch" is regarded in the light of a misfortune, as until it is taken
out the trap is rendered useless for its real object. As an amusement
it is sometimes hunted by dogs, as the otter is, and dug out of its
burrow; but the labour of laying open its deep cave is ill repaid by the
sport. The amateur sportsman frequently gets a shot at the muskrat
while passing along the bank near its haunts, and almost as frequently
misses his aim. The creature is too quick for him, and dives almost
without making a bubble. Of course once in the pool it is seen no more.
Many tribes of Indians hunt the muskrat both for its flesh and skin.
They have peculiar modes of capturing it, of one of which the
hunter-naturalist gave an account. A winter which he had spent at a
fort in the neighbourhood of a settlement of Ojibways gave him an
opportunity of witnessing this sport in perfection.