l5o MAMMALIA. 



it is only under peculiarly favorable circumstances that they are to 

 be found at all. They are never present in any but newly made 

 mounds in wet mucky soil. Hence it is perfectly clear that the 

 earth of which the mounds are composed is brought to and ex- 

 truded through the hole intended for this purpose by being pushed 

 ahead of the animal. In being thus crowded along it becomes com- 

 pressed and moulded to the burrows. How the Mole always 

 manages to force it through the hole he has prepared for it, instead 

 of pushing it into the continuation of the gallery beyond, is by no 

 means so evident. In a great many cases one arm of the gallery 

 curves up into the mound so that the plugs would naturally follow 

 this passage, but in other cases the canal leading to the mound is 

 given off vertically and nearly at a right angle to the runway, while 

 occasionally it commences as a horizontal offshoot, thence sloping 

 upward to the mound. 



As the main galleries from time to time require repairs, the 

 superabundant earth is usually disposed of by crowding it up 

 through the old mounds, which sometimes, though rarely, contain 

 a tubular or oval cavity continuous with the holes. Thus, after 

 a rain or frost by which the galleries have been injured, it often 

 happens that many of the old mounds on the lines of the primary 

 runways will be found to have been reopened and the fresh earth 

 which has been removed in making the necessary repairs may be 

 seen on them. 



Audubon and Bachman criticise Godman's statement concerning 

 the abundance of this species in certain localities, remarking : 

 " We have sometimes supposed that he might have mistaken the 

 o-alleries of the common Shrew Mole for those made by the Star- 



o * 



nose, as to us it has always appeared a rare species in every part 

 of the Union."* My experience agrees with that of Dr. Godman, 

 for I have frequently observed this species in large colonies, 

 and with us it is certainly one of the commonest Moles. 



* Quadrupeds of North America, 1851, vol. II, pp. 141-142. 



