1936] MAMMALS OF OREGON 351 



in the deeper burrows, while the hollow ridges near the surface are 

 mainly feeding runs and passageways, sometimes used but once as 

 the animal pushes by while in search of food. Others are used 

 regularty, not only by the moles but by many small rodents that 

 take advantage of this cover to penetrate fields and gardens and feed 

 upon the farmers crops. 



Breeding habits. Scheffer says that Townsend's mole mates in 

 February and that the young are born in the latter part of March, 

 and develop with astonishing rapidity. By the last of May they 

 are scarcely distinguishable from the adults. There are usually 3 

 in a litter of young, but sometimes only 2, and still more rarely 4. 

 They are found in rudely constructed nests of grass and stubble, 

 leaves, and rootlets in hollowed- out chambers along the runways. 

 Apparently there is but one litter of young a year, as the well- 

 protected life of the mole insures a sufficient abundance of individuals 

 to balance the food supply. Nearly blind as they are, they would 

 never be so shortsighted as to exterminate or reduce too greatly the 

 abundance of the insect life on which they feed. 



Food habits. Moles are primarily insectivorous. According to 

 Scheffer, Wight, and Moore, they subsist mainly upon earthworms, 

 ground-inhabiting insects and insect larvae, spiders, and centipedes, 

 and occasionally eat a small amount of sprouting grain and seeds, 

 such as corn, peas, wheat, and oats. In captivity they ravenously 

 eat fresh meat, beefsteak, birds, fish, or almost any kind of meat, 

 but soon starve if given only grain and roots (Scheffer, 1922, p. 11; 

 Wight, 1928 j p. 31; Moore, 1933, p. 38). 



Their activity and strength are astonishing and their appetites 

 almost insatiable. If given food to their liking they will eat more 

 than their own weight each day, and without abundance of food 

 they quickly starve. They drink freely and soon die if deprived of 

 water. 



Economic status. While the food habits of these moles show them 

 to be almost wholly beneficial to man, they are often the uninten- 

 tional cause of great annoyance by scattering their mounds of earth 

 over the surface of the ground, in fields and meadows and golf links 

 and on well-kept lawns. They also loosen up the surface of the 

 ground with numerous burrows that allow the soil to dry out and 

 in midsummer to kill or injure the grass and growing crops, and 

 also afford cover to rodents that come in to feed upon the crops. 

 Fortunately, however, their beautiful velvety fur has a value suffi- 

 cient to make their trapping profitable where they are abundant, 

 and thus lead to control of any overabundance of the species. 



SCAPANUS LATIMANUS DILATUS TBUE 

 KLAMATH MOLE 



Scapanus dilatus True, U. S. Natl. Mus. Proc. 17 : 242, 1894. 



Scapanus truei Merriam, Biol. Soc. Wash. Proc. 2 : 102, 1897. Type from Lake 

 City, Modoc County, Calif. 



Type. Collected at Fort Klamath, Klamath County, Oreg., by Charles E. 

 Bendire in 1883. 



General characters. Size smaller and colors paler than in townsendi; larger 

 than orarius, with heavier feet and claws and more hairy feet and tails. Fur 

 very soft and silky, colors pale silvery drab or brassy brown, the underfur pale 

 plumbeous or maltese. Compared with typical Scapanus latimarws, which 



