Though ordinarily confined to the immediate vicinity of water, muskrats sometimes are found in amazing places. The urge to travel sometimes influences them to go across country for many miles to some other body of water. They may also become overcrowded in an area so that food becomes scarce and some may leave on that account. It is not uncommon in the Middle West for them to burrow into a farmer’s root cellar in early fall and spend months in this haven of warmth and good food before they are discovered. Floods may carry them many miles away from established haunts and leave them stranded on high ground when the waters recede. A muskrat found in this predicament is not an animal with which to trifle. If it cannot escape by water, it will probably elect to make a stand. The long, sharp incisors are formidable weapons indeed, and any enemy, including man, had best allow judgment to become the better part of valor. The tracks of muskrats are so characteristic that they cannot be mistaken for those of any other animal. Strangely enough they resemble to a striking degree those of certain types of extinct reptiles called dinosaurs. The tracks of the two small front feet are close together and overlapped somewhat by those of the larger hind feet. Between the tracks is the sinuous trail left by the sharp-edged tail. Beaver _Castor canadensis_ (Latin: a beaver ... from Canada) Range: The beaver, like the muskrat, can be found almost everywhere in North America north of the Mexican border. [Illustration: Habitat map] Habitat: Near any water supply of enough volume, with or without damming, to provide security for a beaver family. Description: The largest North American rodent; further distinguished by having a broad flat tail. Total length 34 to 40 inches. Tail 9 to 10 inches. Weight from 30 to 60 pounds. In color the beaver varies from a deep, rich brown in the northern states to a much paler shade in desert regions of the Southwest. The soft, rich underfur is partially concealed by coarse, rather stiff guard hairs. The brown color of the upper parts shades to a chestnut under the belly and on the inner sides of the legs. The forefeet are small with well developed claws. They appear naked but have a scanty cover of coarse hairs. The hind feet are large and webbed, and are similarly covered with a few coarse hairs. The body of the beaver has somewhat the appearance of a kangaroo in that the rear portion is heavy and appear overdeveloped in comparison with the more stream-lined head and forequarters. Much of this impression is gained from the heavy, flat tail which is thick and muscular at the point where it joins the body. One of the most useful appendages possessed by any creature, the tail is paddled-shaped horizontally and about an inch thick in the middle, tapering to thin edges and tip. It appears naked, but is covered with scales.