SPRING PRACTICE IN ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY. 21 



if their mounds are carefully and silently watched during their 

 working hours, it is often possible to locate their exact whereabouts. 

 By means of a quick, strong thrust it is possible to fling a shovel 

 blade beneath the creature at the moment the movement in the 

 mound is observed, and throw it with the loose earth to the 'top of 

 the ground. Or a many-tined fork may be flung into the earth with 

 full force, when the movement is observed, and the mole will probably 

 be impaled on the fork. A light charge of shot fired into the mound, 

 coincidentally with the movement, would be almost certain to kill the 

 animal. Use but little powder for such an attempt. 



Shrews: These little animals are generally mistaken for mice, 

 and one species with a burrowing habit is usually confounded with 

 the moles. The mole shrew is of rather stout build, tail about one 

 inch long and it possesses short legs and a pointed nose. The fur 

 is very fine and glossy, the eyes very small, the ears almost imper- 

 ceptible, and hidden in the fur. The front feet of the burrowing 

 shrew are slightly enlarged for digging, but are widely different 

 from the expanded flippers of the mole. The front and hind feet of 

 most shrews are like those of mice. The mole shrew is a common 

 Ohio species. It makes underground runways that show as elevated 

 ridges on the surface of the ground in gardens and lawns, but does 

 not make the characteristic mounds or mole-hills of the true mole. 

 The shrews are on the whole very beneficial to the agriculturist and 

 deserve protection. Some live almost entirely above ground, and 

 even the mole shrew spends a good part of its life above ground. A 

 single shrew will destroy hundreds of young meadow mice in a 

 season, if opportunity offers. Young rats are also devoured by it, and 

 it has the reputation of being able to overcome creatures larger than 

 itself. Shrews also eat great numbers of earthworms, sowbugs, 

 slugs, white grubs, grasshoppers, ground beetles and other insects. 

 When the mole shrew becomes too plentiful in lawns and gardens, it 

 can probably be killed by strychnine inserted into bits of meat 

 which are put into the freshly-made burrows; but it is questionable if 

 this creature should be interfered with, even under these annoying 

 circumstances. 



Skunks: These animals, like the shrews, are among the far- 

 mer's very best friends. While an occasional individual takes a 

 liking to young poultry, and should then be destroyed, the great 

 majoritydo not molest the chicken yard, but do consume an enor- 

 mous number of June beetles, white grubs, grasshoppers, crickets, 

 field-mice, etc. This creature is probably the most valuable animal 

 in existence for controlling the white grub. It devours both beetles 

 and larvae greedily. Its good offices are partially counterbalanced 



