20O MAMMALS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY. 



vertical shafts. This work casts up the large mounds of a half to quarter 

 peck, sometimes seen in the grounds they frequent. How this earth is con- 

 veyed I cannot state. The mole is very suspicious of a steel or other trap 

 set into the ground along its burrow and invariably fills it with earth, burrow- 

 ing under or around it until it can regain the main passageway. At the same 

 time it has no fear of repairing a tunnel which is repeatedly crushed in from 

 above and is thus easily caught by a trap devised on that principle. In cap- 

 turing a mole while it is digging near the surface one must be very alert and 

 quick of movement, being sure to insert the spade or hoe several inches be- 

 hind where he seems to be and throw out a good quantity of soil or he will 

 escape by a sudden retrograde movement that is remarkable. The quickness 

 and speed by which it can thus escape shows that it must run backwards in 

 its open burrow, as the size of the burrow and the speed of its escape would 

 not allow of turning. God man describes their subterranean home : — " It 

 was an oval cavity about 6 or 7 inches in length by 3 in breadth and was 

 placed at about 8 inches from the surface in a stiff clay. The entrance to it 

 sloped obliquely downwards from the common gallery about 2 inches from 

 the surface. Three times I entirely exposed this all by cutting out the whole 

 superincumbent clay with a knife, and 3 times a similar one was made a little 

 beyond the situation of the former." Godman thinks them gregarious or 

 living at peace in families, an idea I can concur in, having caught three or 

 four individuals of different ages and sexes in the same burrow in a short 

 period. This mole is active during winter in such places where the frost 

 does not prevent its excavations. At this season it must work at consider- 

 able disadvantage in the northern limits of its range, having to burrow much 

 more deeply to find the hibernating msects and worms on which it so largely 

 subsists. That the mole voluntarily comes to the surface of the ground and 

 so remains there is not conceivable when we observe its movements in that 

 unfortunate plight. The snout is capable of exquisite discernment in discov- 

 ering prey and the nature of things coming in contact with it and ability to 

 take hold of and force into the mouth the living insects and worms encoun- 

 tered. It is continually in motion and serves largely the place of hands and 

 eyes to an animal practically devoid of either. 



One of the most interesting and important considerations regarding the 

 mole is its relation to agriculture in particular and to nature in a more gen- 

 eral sense. The following observations are quoted from articles published 

 by me in Forest and Stream in 1898. The first was written in review of a 

 Bulletin published on this subject by the Pa. Department of Agriculture in 

 the same year. Its subject was " The Economic Status of the Mole," by 

 Harry Wilson. I quote : 



"On page 17 Mr. Wilson gives us some 'Miscellaneous Notes' on the 

 common mole {S<:a/ops agua/i'cus), which are of value as adding somewhat to 



