APR 2-0 1222 



AMERICAN MOLES AS AGRICULTURAL 

 PESTS AND AS FUR PRODUCERS. 



Theo. H. Scheffer, Assistant Biologist. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Where moles are found 3 



Description 4 



Habits 5 



Runways and nests 5 



Active periods 8 



Breeding liabits 9 



Natural food 10 



Damage bj' moles 11 



Natural enemies and checks 13 



Trespassers in mole runways 13 



Page. 



Controlling the mole 14 



Where to trap 14 



When to trap 16 



Kinds of traps 17 



How to set traps 17 



Utilizing moleskins 20 



Skinning moles 21 



Stretching and drying pelts 21 



Tanning skins 22 



Making up furs and trimmings. 23 



Marketing moleskins 23 



WHERE MOLES ARE FOUND. 



ITHIN the boundaries of the United States there are 

 recognized five groups of true moles. Two of these 

 are confined to the Pacific coast and three are dis- 

 tributed over the section mostly east of the one hun- 

 dredth meridian, extending from Canada to the Gulf 

 of Mexico (see map, fig. 1). No moles are known from the Great 

 Basin and the Rocky Mountain regions, and their range is very 

 restricted on the Great Plains. The common mole of the eastern 

 United States ^ may be found almost anywhere south of New Eng- 

 land, New York, Michigan, and central Minnesota, except in the 

 mountain regions. In the latter districts and in the greater part of 

 Pennsylvania, New York, New England, and to the northward, the 

 common mole is replaced by the star-nosed mole ^ and the Brewer 

 mole.^ The Townsend mole ^ of the Pacific Coast States is the larg- 

 est of its kind on the continent and is more abundant locally than 



^ Scalopus aquaticus. ^ Parascalops breweH. 



- Condylura cristata. * Scapanus toivnsendii. 



Note. — This bulletin treats of moles occurring throughout the United States; and 

 supersedes Farmers' Bulletin 583,, which deals with the habits of eastern species, and 

 Farmers' Bulletin S32, which treats chiefly of trapping western forms for their fur. 



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