TUNNEL BUILDERS 
59 
prey of weasels, hawks, and owls; the butcher 
bird, too, frequently hangs up a shrew pelt; and 
the house cats unhesitatingly pounce upon the 
unwary prowlers, but they will not eat the flesh, 
because of the musky odor which you noted. 
Moles and hedgehogs are close kin of the shrews.” 
“A mole has begun to throw up its galleries 
down in the pasture,” Alice informed. “ Ser¬ 
pentine figures, Uncle John calls their elevated 
tunnels. He and Tommy were holding high 
counsel over traps last evening.” 
“ Moles are unmitigated little nuisances,” 
averred Grandfather, stoutly, “ and yet not one 
of the little craftsmen you have all been inter¬ 
ested in lately can outdo a mole in zeal; weaver, 
mason, carpenter, what not, he is the greatest 
worker of them all. And with reason: he is com¬ 
pelled by stern necessity. His appetite is so 
enormous that he is incapable of undergoing even 
a slight fast. He lives almost entirely upon 
earthworms, and it is in search of this prey that 
he drives his long, zigzag tunnels. The depth at 
which he works depends upon the season. In 
spring, when there is plenty of moisture in the 
ground, the tunnels run along close to the sur¬ 
face, and it is then that our ire is roused. For 
besides marring the velvety smoothness of our 
lawns, the tunnels uproot and undermine our fa¬ 
vorite flowers and shrubs, and raise havoc gener- 
