128 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP, v 



the prolonged flexible snout and delicate rows of 

 needle-pointed teeth, made to seize, hold, and 

 crush the hard, slippery bodies of insects, inhabit 

 by thousands every part of the country, and are 

 active at all seasons of the year ; yet only now and 

 then is one seen, and that one is usually dead. 

 Mainly nocturnal in their work, and sneaking from 

 point to point under leaves and through runways 

 concealed by the arching grasses, they elude our 

 notice while existing in multitudes about our feet. 

 Of the moles we seem to know somewhat more, 

 for the heaved-up lines of turf that mark their sub- 

 terranean lines of research for bugs and worms, 

 and the hillocks of loose earth, showing where, at 

 intervals, they have cast out the excavated soil, 

 are familiar to all dwellers outside of large cities. 

 Nevertheless, so infrequently is the miner himself 

 met with, that many a person who has grumbled 

 all his life at the depredations on his lawn, would 

 not recognize the culprit when brought before 

 him, and certainly could not tell whether it were 

 the common garden-mole, or the star-nosed one, 

 or Brewer's hairy-tailed mole. 1 These animals, it 



1 See Plate of Common Moles, opposite : I. The eastern Garden- 

 Mole (Scalops aquaticus) ; a, head, side view; , palm of fore-foot; 

 c, semi-naked tail. 2. The Star-nosed Mole (Condylura cristata}\ 

 a, head, under side; 6, palm; t, tail; </, "star" of the muz/.le, 

 front view. 3. The California Shrew-mole (Urotrichus gibbsi}; 

 a, head, under side; b, head, side view (see also Plate of Shrews; 

 c, palm. 4. The Hairy-tailed, or Brewer's Mole (Scapanus 

 breiveri}\ a, muzzle, side view; b, tail; c, palm. 



