Aug. 1910.] The Common Mole. 27 



have already cut a path for themselves in the process of being 

 spread apart. Another trap of this type, the "Out o' Sight" 

 (see illustration, page 26), has a very strong spring and must 

 be set by the aid of the foot while resting on a firm surface. It 

 is then secured by a safety hook and its jaws forced into the 

 ground, straddling the runway, until the trigger-pan touches 

 as in the other traps. As the jaws of this trap are rather short 

 it may be necessary sometimes to scrape off some of the grass 

 and dirt on the top of the mole ridge in order to bring the trap 

 down nearer to the actual burrow. Release the safety hook be- 

 fore leaving the trap. 



It is useless to attempt the capture of moles by means of 

 small steel traps or the ordinary snap mouse traps set in their 

 runways. This fact became evident in trapping for mice and 

 other guests of the mole. Scores of times the traps were care- 

 fully introduced into the burrows and the small excavation 

 covered with sod so as to exclude all light. The results were 

 always the same: scorning the bait or avoiding the unbaited 

 trigger, the mole would plow his way beneath or to one side of 

 the trap and pass on. 



POISONING. There are a number of difficulties in the way of 

 getting measurable results in experiments having to do with 

 the poisoning of moles. The method used in conducting these 

 experiments was as follows: A certain number of fresh run- 

 ways usually twenty-five were selected and located by num- 

 bered stakes. Into each of these runways the poisoned bait was 

 introduced at three to five different points through small 

 openings made with a -lead pencil or sharpened stick of about 

 that size. These openings were then closed with a clod and 

 the exact spot marked by a small pot label. After three or 

 four days a careful inspection of all these locations was made 

 to determine whether or not the bait had been taken or in any 

 way disturbed. The runway was then opened up for a foot or 

 two in each direction from the former location of the bait and 

 left in this condition. In a few days another inspection of the 

 runways was made to ascertain whether the moles were still 

 at work, as would be evidenced by fresh ridging of the earth or 

 by the filling up of that portion of the runway left open as 

 stated above. 



Now as to the interpretation of results: If the baits were 

 taken wholly or in part there would be no means of telling 



