FEB., 1912. MAMMALS OF ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN CORY. 441 



Star-nosed Mole (Condylura cristala). 



Seton records it from western Illinois:* Kennicott, from Edgar and 

 Cook counties; and Wood from Champaign County. 



Wisconsin specimens have been examined from Newbold, Forest Co.; 

 Medford, Taylor Co.; Merrill, Lincoln Co.; and there is a skull in 

 the collection of Dr. H. V. Ogden from Mercer, Iron Co. Jackson 

 records it from Stevens Point, Portage Co. (I, c., 1908, p. 32); and 

 from Whitcomb, Shawano Co., and Bayfield, Bayfield Co. (/. c., 1910, 

 p. 90). 



This species prefers low meadows and marshy ground, although 

 it also frequents dry localities where the soil is loose, such as gardens 

 and ploughed fields. It is found more commonly, however, in the 

 vicinity of water and according to various authors is a good swimmer 

 and quite at home in the water. Dr. C. Hart Merriam says, "In 

 gardens and ploughed ground they often work so near the surface that 

 a ridge of loose earth is upheaved along the course of their tunnels. 

 In meadows and pasture lands, on the contrary, the galleries are not 

 marked by surface ridges, for the simple reason that they cannot 



* Life Histories of Northern Animals, II. 1909, map, p. 1138. 



