THE MOLE FAMILY 
57 
1. COMMON MOLE. 2. STAR-NOSED MOLE. 
rat-like feet; there is a very small eye, an ex- 
ternal ear, and a distinct neck. The body is 
rather slender, and as a whole, the animal looks 
much like a short-tailed mouse. 
THE MOLE FAMILY. 
T alpidae. 
This Family contains twelve full species, all 
quite interesting. Their skins and skulls have 
been studied closely, but our information re- 
garding their habits is very meagre. As a rule, 
moles are larger than shrews. The largest of 
all is an Oregon species, which measures 7 inches 
in length of head and body, and tail I t inches,— 
an unusual size for a mole. 
On all moles the fur is fine, thick, very soft 
and velvety, and faultlessly smooth and clean. 
All these creatures love sandy soil, which they 
can easily burrow. 
The Common Mole 1 is known to the ma- 
jority of country dwellers by its upheaved 
tunnels on the surface of the ground. In ap- 
pearance the animal is a flattened, oblong ball 
of fine, soft, shimmering gray fur, 6i inches long, 
1 Sca'lops a-quat'i-cus. 
to which the naked, little pink-white tail — which 
looks like a small angle-worm — adds If inches. 
Its nose projects half an inch beyond its mouth, 
and on the end it feels as hard as if it contained 
a bone. It terminates in a broad, flattened 
point, shaped quite like a rock-drill. 
The fore foot is three-quarters of an inch wide, 
but less than an inch in length, including the 
claws, which measure half an inch. In your 
hand, a Mole is a wriggling, restless creature. 
Place it upon ground that is not packed hard, and 
in about one second it has found a suitable spot 
for an opening. Its nose sinks into the earth as 
if it were a brad-awl, with a combined pushing and 
boring motion, and in three seconds your Mole’s 
head is no longer in sight. 
Up comes the powerful right foot, sliding close 
along the side of his head, edgewise and palm 
outward, to the end of the nose. The living 
chisel cuts the earth vertically, and then, with 
a quick motion it pries the earth sidewise from 
its nose. Instantly the left foot does the same 
thing on the other side, while the brad-awl nose 
goes right on boring. In ten seconds, by the 
watch, the Mole’s body has entirely disappeared, 
and in three minutes our Mole will tunnel a foot, 
unless interrupted. 
When skinned for dissection, it is found that 
the eye is merely a small, dark speck under the 
skin, suitable only to distinguish light from dark- 
ness. The eye-ball is about the size of a pin- 
head. The arm and forearm is a big, hard bun- 
dle of tough muscles and powerful tendons, 
shaped like an Indian club, of enormous size in 
proportion to the creature’s body. 
DIGGING MUSCLES OF A MOLE. 
The Mole is a wonderful example of energy 
and power. Desiring to observe their methods 
of working when undisturbed, I once placed one 
in a five-acre clover-field, at 11 o’clock a.m. 
During the first seven hours it had tunneled 
twenty-three feet, in a zig-zag line. During the 
next seventeen hours it dug thirty-five feet, and 
