The Pocket Gopher. 141 



nels known only to his tribe. Then, too, the farmer will have 

 the satisfaction of knowing that the expense of freeing his 

 premises of the pest has not been borne by the public treasury. 

 In the course of our experiments, covering a period of three 

 seasons, several makes of special gopher traps have been 

 thoroughly tested for efficiency, and the ordinary steel trap 

 has been set in various ways with the hope of finding a best 

 way. In the latter respect I cannot say that we have succeeded, 

 for it does not seem to make much difference how one sets the 

 steel trap; results will be about the same. These results, ob- 

 tained by 100 tests of each of four or five different methods, 

 are given in the table further on. 



In trapping the location of the runway is determined in one 

 of two ways : by prodding with a sharp stick on a line between 

 two fresh hills of earth, or by digging into the mound itself 

 until one strikes the short lateral. A sharpened broomstick, 

 or a wagon rod, and a spade, are the best tools to use if one 

 follows the first plan. In digging into the mound to the lateral 

 a heavy plant trowel, with a strong shank, serves the purpose 

 very well, and can be carried about in the hip pocket when not 



in use. A careful scrutiny of 

 the mound will usually reveal 

 the exact spot from which the 

 dirt was thrown out and ena- 



ble ne to locate th 6 lateral 



A handy tool for use in setting traps. 



with very little digging. 



Among the methods of setting the steel trap which sug- 

 gested themselves to us, or were recommended by others, we 

 tested five. As stated before, the per cent, of catch did not 

 vary greatly. The plan of digging into the lateral at the 

 mound, pushing the trap back a little way and leaving every- 

 thing open gave the poorest results. More of these traps were 

 packed with earth and fewer caught and held the gopher than 

 when set in any other way. Attracted by the flood of light 

 which enters the burrow at the large opening the animal is 

 pretty sure to come pushing a heavy load of dirt ahead of him. 

 This clogs the trap at once. The plan of admitting a little 

 light through a chink between the sods covering the opening 

 into the burxow, or through a hole bored for that purpose in a 

 board, demonstrated that the admission of any light at all is 

 unnecessary and perhaps operates to reduce the catch. The 



