198 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



sues its prey at a safe depth. It does not hi- 

 bernate hut is much less active than in summer, 

 and doubtless is made so drowsy by the chill 

 and the scarcity of air beneath the frozen top- 

 soil that it sleeps most of the time. In sum- 

 mer these little creatures have a curious habit 

 of coming to the surface precisely at noon, 

 and peering out, or even taking air and sun- 

 shine in a little walk. They are not blind, but 

 their eyes are hardly larger than mustard 

 seeds, so that vision must be restricted to little 

 more than the perception of light. 



A closely related but smaller northeastern 

 species is Brewer's or the hairy- tailed mole; 

 and the Pacific coast has Townsend's and other 

 species. 



The mole with the rosette. The star-nosed 

 mole is a very interesting one, common in the 

 Great Lakes region and on the Atlantic slope. 

 It is larger than the garden mole, has a longer 

 tail, a blackish-brown coat impervious to water, 

 and particularly a rosette of pinkish fleshy 

 feelers around the end of its pig-like proboscis. 

 It lives by choice in swamps and wet meadows, 

 where its burrows often open in some stream- 



