The muskrat is not found in the
Old World, which is a little singular, as other rats so abound there,
and as those slow-going English streams especially, with their grassy
banks, are so well suited to him. The water-rat of Europe is smaller,
but of similar nature and habits. The muskrat does not hibernate like
some rodents, but is pretty active all winter. In December I noticed
in my walk where they had made excursions of a few yards to an orchard
for frozen apples. One day, along a little stream, I saw a mink track
amid those of the muskrat; following it up, I presently came to blood
and other marks of strife upon the snow beside a stone wall. Looking
in between the stones, I found the carcass of the luckless rat, with
its head and neck eaten away. The mink had made a meal of him.
II. CHEATING THE SQUIRRELS.
FOR the largest and finest chestnuts I had last fall I was indebted to
the gray squirrels. Wa1king through the early October woods one day,
I came upon a place where the ground was thickly strewn with very large
unopened chestnut burs.
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