Common Mole 
the surface. It must require a great deal of strength to accom- 
plish this, taking into consideration the tendency lawns have for 
packing under such conditions. By the time he has attained a 
distance of a yard or more from his last dumping place, the exer- 
tion apparently becomes too great and he opens up a new outlet 
to the surface, and another heap is started. In this manner and in 
sleeping the mole spends practically all his time; forcing his un- 
lighted way along with gimlet-like nose and scooping feet, the 
confining earth crowding in all about him, restricting every move- 
ment of his body. 
In winter he conducts his labours at a greater depth in order 
to escape the frost. In spring | have found recently made tunnels 
in the subsoil four feet or more below the surface. 
The American mole is also said to construct true mole-hills 
similar to those of the more famous Old World species though 
more deeply submerged. 
A real mole-hill is an ingenious arrangement of galleries in 
the hard-packed earth, surrounding the nest-chamber as a_safe- 
guard and a means of escape. Two. galleries encircle the 
chamber at distance of a few inches one above the other, and 
connected with it and with each other by numerous short passages, 
insuring a quick and certain means of retreat in any direction. 
From the lower gallery other passages decend to the main road- 
way of the colony, which is an extended passage always kept 
open and free from obstructing roots and earth, and used by 
all the individuals of a colony in going from their nest to their 
diggings. 
| have never seen much evidence, however, that our common 
mole works in colonies as the star-nosed and European species do. 
It seems to me rather that each starts off by himself as soon as 
he is able to dig alone, burrowing along at random in whatever 
direction food appears to be most abundant. 
Brewer’s Mole 
Parascalops brewert (Bachman) 
Also called Hairy-tatled Mole. 
Length. 5.80 inches. 
Description. Dark gray, tail blackish and thickly haired, rather 
longer than that of the preceding; nose and hands similar. 
1&9 
