MOLES, SHREWS AND BATS 197 



Dr. Merriam worked out the dynamics of this 

 last feat, and found it equivalent to a man's 

 exerting a pressure of 12,000 pounds ! 



Methods of the garden mole. In loose old 

 cultivated ground, where earthworms and grubs 

 are numerous, moles travel in every direc- 

 tion just beneath the surface, and often never 

 return on their tracks ; but many of their sub- 

 terranean paths are regular galleries or run- 

 ways, intersecting with others and centering in 

 a home nest which seems to be occupied year 

 after year, and often by several pairs or fam- 

 ilies. This nest and the runways are kept in 

 excellent repair. "When the shrew-mole en- 

 counters a rock or an old log, or stump, in the 

 course of his subterranean wanderings," re- 

 marks Merriam, " instead of avoiding it he 

 takes great pains to burrow beneath, making 

 extensive excavations in contact with its under 

 surface. The reason is obvious, for he knows 

 . . . that in such places are to be found 

 many slugs, ants with their eggs, and other 

 tender insects." 



As winter comes on the mole sinks below the 

 frost-line, as do the earthworms, and so pur- 



