8 



NOETH AMEEICAIT PAUNA. 



[No. 38. 



this is due to difference in time of birth or to subsequent conditions. 

 Another nest, containing young, is described by Bishop as follows : 



On May 22, 1890, while having some apple trees planted, I had the good luck to 

 find a nest containing four young. 



The locality where the nest was found was two miles south of Kentville in Kings 

 County, Nova Scotia. The land had been cleared of small forest trees several years 

 before and had grown up with grass and was mowed eveiy year. 



The particular spot where the nest was found was a little hillock or cradlehill which . 

 had been formed apparently by a tree having been blown down. When the roots 

 had rotted away, a small dry mound of soft black sedimentary earth was formed, 

 and in this the nest was built. This mound was high enough to be out of reach of 

 storm water during wet weather. 



The elevation containing the nest was ten inches below the surface, and was made 

 in circular form, seven inches in diameter. The nest was built of old dry grass, and 

 was very compact and neatly made. Although the mound contained a complete 

 network of roadways, no earth was thrown to the surface within ten feet of the nest.^ 



The little Neilrotrichus prefers a damp habitat and is seldom 

 found far from swamps, marshes, or streams. In the extreme 

 southern part of its range it is most frequently found in swampy 

 places overgrown with sedges or shrubs. Farther north its habitat 

 is less confined, and it is found along streams or even in moist dense 

 woods. Its tunnels are more like those of Condylura than other 

 moles, and it seems to spend no small part of its time in surface 

 rtmways or under logs. In fact, the tunnels are often open above 

 for some distance, and in this respect resemble the timnels of the 

 eastern pine mouse (Pitymys pinetorum) , The nesting and breeding 

 habits of Neiirotrichus are unknown. 



The economic ^atus of American moles has been the subject of 

 much dispute, authorities differing as to whether the animals are 

 beneficial or harmful. The genera Parascalops, Condylura, and 

 Neiirotrichus are local in distribution, seldom abundant in any 

 locaUty, and most frequently inhabit waste or uncultivated lands; 

 they can not, therefore, have extensive economic importance. Such 

 is not the case, however, with Scalojpus and Scapanus, which are 

 more generally distributed throughout their ranges, and usually 

 abundant in lawns, fields, and gardens. The food of moles consists 

 in large measure of insects, and in this they are beneficial. However, 

 moles destroy large numbers of earthworms, make unsightly ridges 

 in lawns, and dig tunnels which permit incursions of rodents injurious 

 to roots, tubers, and planted seeds, and which frequently are directly 

 responsible for the weathering away of humus deposits and super- 

 soils on hillsides; in these activities moles are harmful. The economic 

 status of the mole is being extensively investigated by Theodore H. 

 Scheffer, under the direction of the Biological Survey; the results of 

 his studies will be pubHshed later. 



1 Bishop, W, L., Trans. Nova Scotia Inst. Scl., vol. 10. pp. 348-349, October 1, 1902. 



