MOLE 



The tail is a sensitive, tactile organ and serves to guide the 

 animal when it moves backwards along a runway. The fact 

 that the fur strokes as easily one way as the other would also 

 favor progression in either direction. 



It is not difficult to detect Moles at work. If the observer 

 treads softly and avoids jarring the earth, it is possible to 

 approach very close to the heaving sod which shows where this 

 subterranean hunter is active. Jarring the ground warns the 

 Mole and it loses no time in retreating. When the animal is 

 working near the surface it is a fairly easy matter to approach 

 with a shovel, and after giving the moving area a smart rap, to 

 thrust the blade down under the Mole and throw out the 



Fig. 



8. Tail of Common IMole (above) compared with tail of 

 Hairy-tailed Mole 



stunned animal. This is often simpler than trying to trap the 

 Mole, for it pushes so much earth along that the trap is sprung 

 before the creature reaches the danger zone. 



Apparently young Moles do not leave the deep, under- 

 ground nest until nearly full grown, because the Moles caught 

 in traps are never very young animals. About the only way to 

 get the young is to dig out the nest, and it was not until the 

 American Museum had sent notices all over the country that 

 they could secure young animals for a group. The farmer's 

 plow occasionally turns out a nest of young Moles, but it is 

 an exceptional circumstance to encounter the immature of 

 this common mammal. 



In the spring. Moles sometimes become exceedingly active 

 and push out runways much longer than usual, even breaking 

 out onto the surface and wading about for a distance above the 



19 



