FUR FACTS 209 



The mole is a creature of strictly subterranean habits. Such ex- 

 periences as fall to its lot must necessarily come through its sensi- 

 tive touch, acute hearing, or highly developed powers of smell. While 

 the animal is seldom seen above ground, it sometimes ventures out of 

 its tunnels perhaps chiefly at night. 



Runways and Nests 



The living quarters of the mole consist of a series of galleries and 

 tunnels 12 to 15 inches beneath the surface of the ground, usually 

 deep enough to escape the plow. This central part of the system of 

 runways can ordinarly be located by little piles of earth thrust up 

 from deeper tunnels These elevations are easily distinguished from 

 the surface ridgings caused by the mole's burrowing just beneath 

 the sod. They may be looked for on the higher spots of an open field 

 or where natural objects offer concealment and shelter. 



The nest of the mole is usually in a chamber 4 or 5 inches in dia- 

 meter and about a foot beneath the surface. The materials of the 

 nest consist mainly of closely cropped pasture grasses with the fine 

 fibrous roots attached. It is probable that this grass stubble is 

 pulled down by the roots into the upper surface of the burrows and 

 then carried to the nesting chambers. When located near trees the 

 nests sometimes consist of leaves mixed with grass. 



Certain galleries or passages leading out from the deeper central 

 system trend upward here and there to join the shallow subsurface 

 runs that range over the mole's hunting grounds. These hunting 

 paths produce the ridges with which we are familiar in our lawns, 

 gardens, and fields. Beneath these ridges the little animal hurries 

 along at irregular intervals in search of food, and when occasion 

 demands, it extends the limits of its operations by pushing out into 

 untouched soil. As it extends the subsurface runways its movement 

 is almost literally one of swimming. With powerful action of the 

 heavy shoulder muscles the hands are brought forward, palms out- 

 ward, until they almost or quite touch in front of the snout. They 

 are then thrust outward and backward to push the soil aside, while 

 the body follows in the passageway thus created. 



It is commonly believed that the mole works only at regular 

 periods each day, but direct observations taken in late summer, and 

 in the fall fail to show that there is any one time of day when it is 

 more active than at others. 



If a slight opening is made into a mole's runway the little animal 

 will invariably repair the breach when it next comes that way. 



