. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. THE MUSQUASH, OB MUSK RAT. 467 them, they pick it up in their fore-paws, shake it violently, in order to get rid of the earth that clings to the roots, and then, carrying it to the water-side, wash it with a rapid dexterity that might be envied by a professional laundress. While swimming it looks very like a magnified water vole, and is remarkably quick and agile in its movements ; but its gait on land is clumsy and awkward. It seems to be equally at home in salt or fresh water, inhabiti
. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. THE MUSQUASH, OB MUSK RAT. 467 them, they pick it up in their fore-paws, shake it violently, in order to get rid of the earth that clings to the roots, and then, carrying it to the water-side, wash it with a rapid dexterity that might be envied by a professional laundress. While swimming it looks very like a magnified water vole, and is remarkably quick and agile in its movements ; but its gait on land is clumsy and awkward. It seems to be equally at home in salt or fresh water, inhabiting the banks of rivers or the shores of the sea creeks, according to the locality in which it is found, and living in burrows which it excavates along the COYPU RAT, OR RACOONDA —Myopotamus coijpu. It is said to be a tolerably powerful animal, and to make no despicable resistance to the dogs which are employed in its chase. It is, however, naturally of a gentle disposition, and can be rendered very tame by those who bestow proper attention upon it. The Ondatra, Musquash, or Musk Rat, is a native of Northern America, where it is found in various places above the twentieth degree of north latitude. The color of this animal is a dark brown on the upper portions of its body, tinged with a reddish hue upon its neck, ribs, and legs, the abdomen being ashy gray; the tail is of the same dark hue as the body. In total length it rather exceeds two feet, of which measurement the tail occupies about ten inches. The incisor teeth are bright yellow, and the nails are white. The whole coloring of the animal is so wonderfully like the hue of the muddy banks on which it resides, that a practised naturalist has often mistaken the Ondatras for mere lumps of mud until they began to move, and so 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 of the Ondatra in a wild state appears to he
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
