new one made at the newly excavated end of the
tunnel, the animal continuing on in its labors and dumping from
the fresh orifice. These mounds of earth occur at intervals on
the surface of the ground, and although no hole can be discovered
beneath them, they nevertheless serve to indicate the track of
the burrow, which lies several inches beneath.

The Gopher is a great pest to western cultivators, and by its root
feeding and undermining propensities does extensive injury to crops
generally. They may be successfully trapped in the following manner:
Strike a line between the two most recent earth mounds, and midway
between them remove a piece of the sod. By the aid of a trowel
or a sharp stick the burrow may now be reached. Insert your hand
in the tunnel and enlarge the interior sufficiently to allow the
introduction of No. (0) steel trap. Set the trap flatly in the
bottom of the burrow, and then laying a piece of shingle or a few
sticks across the excavation replace the sod. Several traps may
be thus set in the burrows at considerable distances apart, and a
number of the animals thus taken. The traps are sometimes inserted
in the burrows from the hillocks, by first finding the hole and
then enlarging it by inserting the arm and digging with the hand
beneath. The former method, however, is preferable.

The skin of the Gopher may be pulled off the body either by cutting
up the hind less, as described in reference to the Fox,
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or by making the incision from the lower jaw down the neck, as decided
for the muskrat, a simple board stretcher being used.

THE MOLE.

Of all the mammalia the Mole is entitled to take the first place
in the list of burrowers. This extraordinary creature does not
merely dig tunnels in the ground and sit at the end of them, as is
the case with many animals, but it forms a complicated subterranean
dwelling place with chambers, passages and other arrangements of
wonderful completeness. It has regular roads leading to its feeding
grounds; establishes a system of communication as elaborate as
that of a modern railway, or, to be more correct, as that of the
subterranean network of the sewers of a city. It is an animal of
varied accomplishments. It can run tolerably fast, it can fight
like a bull-dog, it can capture prey under or above ground, it can
swim fearlessly, and it can sink wells for the purpose of quenching
its thirst. Take the mole out of its proper sphere, and it is awkward
a