14 ANIMAL, LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 



in the southern part of the State there are two species of "flying" 

 squirrels. The striped ground squirrel, smaller than its timber cousins, 

 burrows into the ground in meadows and grain fields and is responsible 

 for an annual damage of more than $100,000. Rats and mice exist in 

 abundance throughout the State, and the destruction which they cause 

 in fields and store-houses , is common knowledge. But, we can avoid 

 much of this loss. If shelter such as heavy grass corners, weeded fence 

 rows, mulching, and unraked hay, is burned or removed, and skunks, 

 hawks, owls, weasels, and bull-snakes are not foolishly killed on account 

 of superstition and hearsay, but are protected as friends, the army of 

 these destructive rodents will soon be so lessened that the annual damage 

 from this source will be reduced to very small proportions. 



MOLES. 



ildles have long been the unhappy victims of circumstantial evi- 

 dence. They spend most of their active life in plowing through the 

 soft earth in search of insects, and are guilty of only a few of the crimes 

 with which they are so often charged and convicted. Their food con- 

 sists almost entirely of insects, and if they are confined in a cage with 

 nothing but vegetable food they soon starve. Moles are attracted to 

 localities where burrowing insects are most numerous, and their presence 

 in a yard or garden indicates that unseen insect pests are at work 

 beneath the ground. The farmer observes a fresh mole run extending 

 the length of a row of planted seeds, and if the seeds fail to come up 

 the damage is charged to the mole and every effort is made to see that 

 summary justice is executed. In reality, the mole was -attracted by the 

 grubs that were feeding on the sprouting roots, and was not even remotely 

 interested in the seed. Then to further cloud the real issue, field mice 

 take advantage of the protecting shelter of the mole tunnel and follow 

 up, destroying all seeds and roots that have been exposed by the mole. 

 To these trespassers is directly chargeable most of the destruction usually 

 attributed to the mole. However, the mole is not entirely blameless. 

 Its runs, when extended into lawns, render them unsightly, and many 

 small roots are displaced and plants killed by th3 tunneling of this 

 industrious animal. They should of course be kept out of yards and 

 gardens, and this can be done by persistently trampling down their 

 runs. The moles will thus be saved, for carrying on the work of des- 

 troying underground insects in the fields, for which nature hag so 

 admirably fashioned them. 



BATS. 



Bats perform much the same service in the air that moles do 

 beneath the ground. Their diet is made up largely of insects, and they 

 contribute in no small way to holding these pests in check. It is true 

 that we do not often see them at work, for they hang head downward under 

 some protecting object during the day, but at dusk they come f^om their 

 hiding and with a wierd, broken flight pursue and capture almost every 

 kind of insect that moves about after night. Bats have little to commend 



