. The popular natural history . Zoology. THE MUSQUASH. 143 white. The whole colouring of the animal is so wonderfully I'ke the hue of the muddy banlcs on which it resides, that a practised naturalist has otten mistaken the Ondatras for mere lumps of mud until they began to move aud .0 dispelled the illusion. The hinder feet of the Ondatra are well webbed, and their imprint on the soft mud is very like that of a common duck The food Sf the Ondatra in a wild state appears to be almost wholly ot a vegetable nature ; although, when confined in a cage, one of these animals bus been seen to eat muss
. The popular natural history . Zoology. THE MUSQUASH. 143 white. The whole colouring of the animal is so wonderfully I'ke the hue of the muddy banlcs on which it resides, that a practised naturalist has otten mistaken the Ondatras for mere lumps of mud until they began to move aud .0 dispelled the illusion. The hinder feet of the Ondatra are well webbed, and their imprint on the soft mud is very like that of a common duck The food Sf the Ondatra in a wild state appears to be almost wholly ot a vegetable nature ; although, when confined in a cage, one of these animals bus been seen to eat mussels and oysters, cutting open the softest shells and extracting the inmates, and waiting for the hard-shelled 5?^='";="^ u"t they either opened of their own accord or died. Although the Ondatra is a walker, It will sometimes travel to some distance from the water-side, and nas been noticed on a spot nearly three-quarters of a mile from any water 1 hese animals have also been detected in ravaging a garden, which they naa. MUSQUASH, OR MUSK RAT, OR ONDATRA.—{Fiber Zibithicus.') plundered of turnips, parsnips, carrots, maize, and other vegetables. The mischievous creatures had burrowed beneath them, bitten through their roots and carried them away to their subterranean storehouses. The maize they had procured bv cutting the stalks near the level of the ground. The Ondatra' lives mostly in burrows, which it digs in the banks of the river in which it finds its food, but sometimes takes up its abode in a different kind of habitation, according to the locahty and the soil. In the stiff clay' banks of rivers the Ondatra digs a rather complicated series of tunnels, some, of them extending to a distance of fifteen or twenty yards, and sloping upwards. There are generally three or four entrances, all of which open under water, and unite in a single chamber, where the Ondatra makes its bed. The couch of the luxurious animal is composed of sedges, water-lily leaves,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1884
