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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



snugly located in a nest placed in a narrow 

 space between the tile roof and the ceiling. In 

 southern Texas the animals live on the brush- 

 grown plains under conditions very different 

 from those usually chosen. 



Like its relative the raccoon, the cacomixtle, 

 with a taste for a varied fare, takes whatever 

 edibles come its way. It stalks wood rats, 

 mice, and even bats amid their rocky haunts 

 and birds in bushes and low trees. About the 

 southern end of the Mexican table-land it is 

 much disliked for its robberies of chicken 

 roosts, especially when these are located in 

 trees. Insects of many kinds, larvae, and centi- 

 pedes are eaten, as well as a great variety of 

 fruits, including that of the pear-leaved cactus, 

 and dates, figs, and green corn. 



Ring-tailed cats regularly locate among rocky 

 ledges, neighboring orchards, or other culti- 

 vated areas where they may gather some of 

 the bounty provided by man. I found them 

 more plentiful among the broken lava cliffs 

 bordering date palm orchards in Lower Cali- 

 fornia than in any other place. When the 

 dates were ripening they prowled about under 

 the palms after dark with gray foxes and 

 spotted skunks to pick up the fallen fruit. 

 They sometimes uttered a complaining cry and 

 when caught in a trap would bark almost like 

 a little dog, or occasionally utter a vicious 

 scream of mixed fear and rage. 



Being an intelligent animal, the cacomixtle is 

 readily tamed and makes a most interesting pet. 

 During the early years of gold mining in 

 California, when many men were living in rude 

 cabins in the mountains, the prevalence of mice 

 often attracted these "cats" to take up their resi- 

 dence there. Often the owner of the premises 

 and the mouser struck up a friendly relation- 

 ship and the cacomixtle, becoming as free and 

 friendly about the place as a real cat, kept it 

 entirely clear from mice. I have had first-hand 

 accounts of these tame individuals from miners 

 who had harbored them in-this way for months. 

 These accounts always gave the impression that 

 the animal was somewhat playful and mis- 

 chievous and most attractive to have about the 

 premises. All agreed that it was extremely 

 fond of sugar. 



THE OREGON MOLE (Scapanus town- 

 sendi and its relatives) 



(For illustration, see page 461) 



The effect on mammals of a narrowly special- 

 ized mode of life is well illustrated in the 

 mole. It is an expertly constructed living mech- 

 anism for tunneling through the earth. The 

 pointed nose, short neck, compactly and power- 

 fully built cylindrical body, with ribs strongly 

 braced to withstand pressure, and the short, 

 paddlelike hands armed with strong claws for 

 digging are all fitted for a single purpose. Eyes 

 and ears are of little service in an underground 

 life, so they have become practically obsolete; 

 the fur has been modified to a compact velvety 

 coat which will lie either front or back with 



equal facility and thus relieve any friction from 

 the walls of the tunneled roads, no matter 

 which way the animal travels. 



Moles are circumpolar in distribution, being 

 found from England to Japan in the Old 

 World and on both the Atlantic and Pacific 

 coasts of the New^World. where they occur 

 only in North America. On this continent they 

 are limited mainly to the United States and 

 southern Canada, extending across the Mexi- 

 can border only in two limited areas at the 

 extreme east and west. Their distribution is 

 not continuous across the continent, but is 

 broken by a broad unoccupied belt formed by 

 the arid interior, including the Great Basin. 

 The home of the Oregon mole lies in the humid 

 area west of the Cascade Mountains in Wash- 

 ington, Oregon, and extreme northwestern 

 California. Closely related forms range from 

 eastern Oregon southward through California 

 to the San Pedro Marti r Mountains in Lower 

 California, and others north into British Co- 

 lumbia. 



The Oregon mole is the largest and hand- 

 somest member of the group in America and 

 perhaps in the world. Its skin, a velvety coat 

 of nearly black fur, often with a purplish sheen, 

 now brings a higher price in the market than 

 that of any other species. Its size and the 

 beauty of its dark coat distinguish it from any 

 other mole. 



Where the soil is loose the mole practically 

 swims through it, urged forward by powerful 

 impulses of its "hands" and feet. This is the 

 common mode of travel near the top of the 

 ground, where the course is marked by the 

 lightly upheaved and broken surface. When 

 working at a greater depth and in more com- 

 pact soil the mole must dig its way and dis- 

 pose of the loose earth by pushing it along the 

 tunnel to an outlet at the surface through which 

 it is thrust to form a mound similar to the 

 "dumps" of that other great miner, the pocket 

 gopher. 



On account of this similarity in mode of life, 

 moles and pocket gophers are sometimes con- 

 fused by persons not familiar with the two 

 animals. The resemblance ends in this ap- 

 parent likeness, for the pocket gophers belong 

 to the great order Rodentia, or gnawing ani- 

 mals, while the moles are of the Insectivora, 

 or insect-eaters. 



The superbly forested region inhabited by 

 Oregon moles is so well watered that few 

 places, even on high mountain slopes, are too 

 dry for them to occupy. These animals are 

 generally distributed, and their hills may be 

 seen in the midst of the great coniferous forests 

 as well as in the open valleys. 



They are most abundant in open grassy areas, 

 especially in meadows and in the bottoms of 

 canyons and similar places, where the damp 

 rich soil affords a plentiful supply of earth- 

 worms, grubs, and insects on which to feed. 

 Like other moles, they lead lives of great activity 

 and almost constant hard labor. During damp 

 weather they work near the surface, but in 

 dry periods as the upper soil hardens they 



