Family TALPIDAE 53 



food. In the "swimming" motion a breast stroke is employed. 

 The mole's spadelike hands are brought forward alongside its 

 snout. Then its hands are thrust outward, slightly upward, and 

 backward, pushing the soil aside and pulling the animal for- 

 ward. The soil above the animal arches and finally cracks, leav- 

 ing a humped and broken trail, fig. 6. Along such a run the 

 mole searches for food. Rarely, an adventuresome or restless 

 individual will leave its run or burrow for a brief foray above 

 ground. Only on such an occasion does the mole leave open an 

 entrance to its burrow. When the mole is at home, every 

 entranceway is plugged. Meadow mice, pine mice, and shrews 

 commonly dig into and use mole runways. 



Although the eastern mole makes unsightly ridges and hills 

 or mounds in lawns or gardens, it has the best of intentions, 

 for usually in this activity it is not eating roots or bulbs but 

 foraging for worms and insects. Examination of the stomachs 

 of eastern moles has demonstrated that the bulk of the diet 

 consists of earthworms, white grubs, and other arthropods. In 

 the stomachs of 56 moles from central Illinois, 62 per cent of 

 the food w r as insects, 26 per cent earthworms, 11 per cent plant 

 material, and 1 per cent spiders, hair, and other items (West 

 1910). Eight per cent of the plant material was corn, found in 

 the stomachs of 11 of the 56 moles. In the stomachs of these 

 same animals there were also cutworms, wireworms, whit*" 

 grubs, vvebworms, and ants. In a mole stomach collected re- 

 cently in Champaign County, most of the food consisted of gar- 

 den peas. 



The eastern mole is active throughout the year. In spring 

 and summer it uses runways or tunnels near the surface and 

 extends them chiefly when soil conditions are most favorable — 

 usually following rains. In the fall it devotes much of its time 

 to making runs or burrows deep in the soil. With the onset of 

 winter, it uses both new and old runs below the frost line where 

 insects can still be found. 



The female of the eastern mole ordinarily has only one litter 

 of four young each year. In April or May, the young are born, 

 naked and helpless, in a crudely constructed nest in a deep run- 

 way. For about a month, they remain in the nest. By the age 

 of 3 months they are nearly as large as the parents. 



This animal has few enemies and leads a relatively sate life 

 in its underground burrows. To some wild animals the mole 



