Is valuable also for his flesh. Its name and rat-like appearance have created a prejudice against it as a food, but thousands of persons eat it without compunction. For those to whom the name is a stumbling-block the euphemism " marsh rabbit" has been invented, and under this name the muskrat is sold even in the Wilmington market and served on the tables of white country folk. In Delaware, especially, the muskrat is ranked as a delicacy, and personally the author ranks this rodent with the rabbit as an article of food.

At Dover the writer has had it served at the hotel under its own name; the dish was "muskrats and toast." For the benefit of those who revolt at the muskrat as food, it is well to state that it is one of the cleanest of all creatures, that it carefully washes all its own food and in every way conducts itself so as to recommend its flesh even to the most fastidious. As a matter of fact the flesh of the muskrat, though dark, is tender and exceedingly sweet. Stewed like rabbit it looks and tastes like rabbit, save that it lacks a certain gamy flavor that some uneducated persons find an unpleasant characteristic of the latter. But to the writer's way of thinking, while the muskrat is good to eat, there are many things much better; the point is, however, that everything which tastes good and is not indigestible is good to eat no matter what its name may be.