Part 13 (1/2)

I MR MOLE AND HIS RELATIONS

Moles do a lot of good work for the far the soil--over and over again--thousands of centuries beforeto plant seed in it, but they are all the tis, destructive worms and insects in the soil They work all over the world, that is to say, in the upper half of it--the Northern Heest half of the land is, if I haven't forgotten raphy

WONDERFUL LITTLE MACHINES ON FOUR LEGS

Closely related to the moles are the shrews--quaint little , pointed heads and noses that they can twist about al out other things in this big world that concern the noses they have whiskers like a pussy-cat; and that helps, too, when you want to keep posted on what's going on around you Like the moles the shrews are found all over the Northern He-tailed shrew,” is the very s the er than the end of a er; and the ser than that Yet, inside these wee bodies is as much machinery as it takes to run any other mammal--an elephant, say

[Illustration: THE COMMON AND THE SHORT-TAILED SHREW]

The shrews get around very fast, considering their size; and they're on the go all the ti about in the old leaves and dead grass and under logs and boring into loose loam, punky wood, decayed sturub, a beetle, or a slug Hard workers, these shrews, but _so_ quarrelsome! When two Mr Shrews ular little swashbucklers a, until you knohy--they don't see Cousin Mouse that! But it isn't because the shreouldn't_ be afraid if the cats got after them, but because cats always let shrews alone They don't taste good!

[Illustration: THE CILIATED SHREW]

Shrews are so ni, they are very hard to catch And please don't try! You simply _can't_ tame them, and in spite of the fact they're so fierce and bold at hohtened to death A shock of fear and that wonderful little heart engine of theirs stops short--never to go again

MR MOLE'S PAWS AND HOW HE WORKS THEM

But while the shrews can get around so round the round The mole's paws, you notice, are turned outward, as one's hands are when swih the soft, loose soil--so fast does he ! His two shovels, with the h as much as all the rest of his body Why, he has a chest like an athlete! He pierces the soil with his muzzle and then clears it aith his paws His skull is shaped like a wedge He has a strong, boring snout and a smooth, round body

This snout, by the way, has a bone near the tip You see how handy that would coh it's so hard--this snout of his--it's very sensitive, like the fingers of the blind; for Mr Molein the dark, you know

[Illustration: SECTION OF MR MOLE'S CASTLE

This is a cross-section of ainto it]

The kind of moles you find in Europe live in what see above ground, make hillocks

In each of these little forts there is a central cha all the way around, are two galleries, one above the other The upper gallery has several openings into the central chaht up-and-down shafts Froht to ten, lead away to where the o out to feed; and if there is a body of water near by--a pond or a creek, say--there's a special tunnel leading to that

Mr Mole works hard and he sleeps hard The big middle room in his home is the bedchamber of Mr Mole and his faht, but occasionally, on fine Suhts, he comes out and enjoys the air

[Illustration: THE COMMON AND THE STAR-NOSED MOLE]

You'd think he'd get awfully dirty, wouldn't you, boring his way along in the ground all the time? But he doesn't His hair is always as spick and span as if he'd just come out of the barber-shop Do you knohy?

It's because he wears his hair poht out froo backward and forward--as he is obliged to do constantly in the day's work--withoutit up at all If it lay down, like yours or like pussy-cat's, it would get into an _awful_ mess! In France the children call Mr Mole ”The Little Gentleman in the Velvet Coat”

II FOUR-FOOTED FARMERS THAT WEAR ARMOR

But, speaking of coats, I want to introduce you to a still more rapid worker in the soil, ears a coat of mail He is called the armadillo There used to be a species of armadillo in western Texas

Whether there are any there still I don't know,[19] but go on down to South America and you'll find all you want The woods are full of them, and so are those vast prairies--the pampas The plates in the armadillo's coat of mail are not made of steel, of course, but of bone

These bony plates are each separate from the other on most of his body but made into solid bucklers over the shoulders and the hips The ar claws, and how they can dig! They can dig fast in any kind of soil, but in the loose soil of the paht of one when out riding and he sees _you_, you'll have to start toward hi et to him and throw yourself froround And you can't catch hiht He'll dig ahead of you, faster--a good deal faster--than you can follow