American Moles. 



19 



break or obstruction encountered in its burrow. Then fill in enough 

 loose damp earth to hide and block the passageway and settle the 

 trap into place, its jaws straddling the course. This course may be 

 determined by feeling for the tunnel openings with a small stick. 

 The trigger pan should rest snugly on the soil, but the dirt should 

 not be packed elsewhere under the trap, lest the mole upset or spring 

 it before getting well within the jaws. Outside the base of the trap 

 the soil may be pressed down, if need be, to hold things more firmly 

 in place. 



Choker-loop traps. — In setting the choker-loop trap (fig. 14) less 

 attention need be given the matter of getting the soil fine and loose. 

 The loops may be 

 firmly forced into 

 the ground Avith tiie 

 certainty that they 

 will react promptly 

 when the trap is 

 sprung. Traps of 

 this type will also 

 stand up to the work 

 better than any of 

 the others when used 

 in heavy clay or 

 gravelly soils. When 

 placed in position on 

 a mole runway the 

 loops should encircle 

 the course of the run 

 and reach a litt](^. 

 deeper than the level 

 of the bottom of it. 

 Before placing the 

 trap on a deep set- 

 ting fill in enough 



earth to come up against the frame. A convenient way of getting 

 the trap into position is to hold the end of the trigger wire down 

 with the left thumb, the fingers grasping the spring arm. Then with 

 the free right hand compress the damp soil beneath the trigger pan, 

 or place a little piece of sod under it, so that the two will be in snug 

 contact when the setting is completed. As in the case of the scissor- 

 jaw type, the soil should be loose under the tiwp except immediately 

 beneath the trigger. This precaution applies particularly to the use 

 of these traps for the large moles of western Washington and Oregon. 

 Both traps were originally devised for the smaller moles east of the 

 Rockies. 



BI774M. 



Fig. 14. — Choker-loop trap. Phantom view, showing trap 

 placed in position on one of the deeper runways of a 

 mole's system of burrows. The loops must encircle the 

 runway. 



