18 



Farmcis Bulletin 12M. 



may also be used, but one should take care to make the break or open- 

 ing- into the burrow no larger than is necessary to accommodate the 

 trap; otherwise the mole may turn aside from the original course 

 and pass through without being caught. Even when placing the 

 trap on one of the shallow hunting paths it will pay, unless the soil 

 is fairly loose and mellow, to dig into the runway and adapt the 

 setting to known conditions, rather than to set from the surface by 

 simply forcing the jaws or the loops into the soil. Sometimes, in 



digging, three or four 

 forks of the burrow 

 may be discovered, in 

 which case there is 

 nothing to do but fill 

 the break and try 

 elsewhere ; a mole 

 trap will face but two 

 ways. No importance 

 need be attached to 

 the admonition one 

 sometimes receives to 

 use gloves in setting 

 mole traps to prevent 

 the animals' getting 

 the scent of human 

 hands ; long experi- 

 ence has shown this 

 precaution does not 

 affect the catch in any 

 way. 



The location of one 

 of the shallow hunt- 

 ing paths of the mole 

 is plainly indicated 

 by the surface ridge. To find a deeper runway from which a mound 

 of earth has been pushed out, clear away the mound and feel or 

 prod for the short passageway running obliquely down to the main 

 tunnel. Follow its course, usually only a few inches, and place the 

 trap on the main run. 



Scissor- jaw traps. — To get the best results with the scissor- jaw 

 type of mole trap (fig. 13) the soil in which the setting is mad© 

 should first be loosened with a trowel and freed from sticks, clods, 

 or pebbles, as the jaws must close through the soil to make the 

 catch and will, of course, act the more quickly the less they are 

 obstructed. In a deep setting make the excavation for the trap a 

 little lower than the level of the bottom of the runway, for the 

 tendency of a mole is to pass under rather than to one side of a 



BI773M 



t\G. lo. — Scissor-jaw. or gripping-jaw, trap. Phantom 

 view, showing its position in relation to a deeper run- 

 way of the mole. The soil must be loosened with trowel 

 and freed from obstructions, as sticks, stones, or clods, 

 in order that the trap may act quickly. The jaws must 

 straddle the course of the runway. 



