. Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammals; Animal behavior. THE MUSKRAT. Among the Vole family of Rodeuts the most useful is the Muskrat, the American animal shown in the picture. The fur is very much sought after and is one of the warmest and softest. Muskrats live in burrows near the water's edge for their food consists of aquatic plants. (Fiber zibethicus.) the fur on account of the odor of musk which clings to it for a long time, it is often used for trimming clothing, or in the manufacture of collars and muffs,
. Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammals; Animal behavior. THE MUSKRAT. Among the Vole family of Rodeuts the most useful is the Muskrat, the American animal shown in the picture. The fur is very much sought after and is one of the warmest and softest. Muskrats live in burrows near the water's edge for their food consists of aquatic plants. (Fiber zibethicus.) the fur on account of the odor of musk which clings to it for a long time, it is often used for trimming clothing, or in the manufacture of collars and muffs, especially in America and China. The best pelts are deprived of the long outer fur, dyed a dark brown color and used as a trimming which resembles the true Sealskin. The flesh is eaten only by In- dians to whom the odor, which pervades it to such a degree as to render it wholly unpalatable to Eu- ropeans, does not seem to be disagreeable. Methods of The Muskrat Trapping the is caught in Muskrat. traps baited with apples; steel traps are put in front of the holes, or they are sometimes killed in their burrows. The In- dians know exactly which "lodges" are inhabited; they noiselessly creep up to those in which the ani- mals remain and with all their might drive a sharp spear through the walls, usually transfixing the in- habitants. The Water Vole is from eight and one-naif to nearly ten inches long, the tail measuring from two and one-half to rather more than three inches. The color of the fur may be said to be uniform ; for the grayish brown or brownish black of the upper surface gradually merges into the lighter whitish or gray, black or brownish black hue of the under parts. The Water Vole may be readily distin- guished from the Domes- tic or Black Rat by its thick, round, short head, with strikingly short ears covered with fur and not attaining a quarter of the length of the head, and its short tail. The color is variable, three variations of the typical form being
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectmammals, bookyear1895
