Some of them will lay up stores of food for winter, but they do not all do this. Where the streams are rapid they can get out to hunt for food at almost all times, and where they are located on lakes and marshes that freeze over in winter they can find plenty of food in the water under the ice. This food is taken to the feed bed to be eaten. In early spring the warmth from their bodies will sometimes thaw a hole through the ice over the bed and the muskrat stops this hole with grass roots, etc. The trapper is looking for just such places and it is the bunch of grass roots on the ice that gives them away. The steel trap is soon in place, awaiting the coming of the animal, and many of them are trapped in this way. The breeding habits of the muskrat are different from those of other fur-bearing animals, as they will have three litters in a season. The first are born in April, and there will be from six to nine young. It is claimed that the female of the first litter will also bear young that season and this accounts for the small rats, or kits, caught during the fall season. It would appear from this that the animals should increase in numbers very rapidly, but they have many enemies other than man, and perhaps one-half of the muskrats born in a season never reach maturity. With the exception of man, their greatest enemies are the birds of prey, such as owls, hawks, buzzards, etc., but chiefly the owl, as it is a nocturnal bird and has a fine opportunity to capture the unwary. The fox frequently makes a capture, as does also the mink and otter. It is a deplorable fact that there is a large proportion of small animals in the trapper's catch. These are the young muskrats, for while they grow rapidly the first summer, it requires several years for them to attain full size, yet they class as No. 1 the first season. The old animals are larger and their fur is more valuable than that of the young. For those who raise the animals there would be less trouble from catching young and immature rats. Muskrats do not become fully prime until midwinter and many of them are not strictly number one until March. When fully prime the skin will be of a cream or pink color, with no dark spots showing. Winter caught skins will have a number of dark spots, while those taken in the fall have a very pronounced stripe or two on the back. Along the Atlantic Coast for many years land owners have rented the rat catching privileges to "ratters" on shares, which is generally one-half of the catch. The "ratters" only trap when the fur is at its best, so that the supply is holding out. On lands "free for all" the rats are thinned out. During recent years, property owners in various rat producing sections have awakened to the fact that their "swampy land" is of more value for the animal fur harvest than for any other purpose.