232 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



A noticeable difference between the male and female 

 moles that I kept was that the former smelt so much more 

 strongly than the latter. The cage a big mole was kept 

 in was quite unpleasant in the sitting-room, but that of a 

 small mole was not at all offensive. Another difference 

 between the sexes is the bolder disposition of the male. 

 When I had a male and female in captivity at the same time, 

 this was very apparent. The little one (No. 4) was still shy 

 and nervous after being four days in the cage, by which time 

 the bigger one (No. 5) was quite at home and had lost all 

 fear. 



That the mole is as fierce as tradition asserts I am quite 

 prepared to endorse. One afternoon my brother brought in 

 a dead mole, and suggested we should see what No. 2 

 thought of it. The minute we tapped the glass he scrambled 

 out of the nest evidently thinking we had food for him, 

 whereupon W. P. touched him on the tail with the dead 

 mole. Round he spun, only to be poked in the back with 

 the corpse, but before W. P. could snatch it away the mole 

 had grabbed his inanimate foe. Frightened that the skin 

 would be spoilt (skins are worth considering when they are 

 6d. or more apiece !) we pulled him off. He was very excited, 

 dancing with fury, and seemed as if " possessed by a devil." 

 When the body was held near him again he fairly sprang 

 at it, seized it by the nose, and held on like a ferret. We 

 lifted him in the air, and still he clung to it, using his paws 

 as well as his teeth to tear at the foe. Three minutes, 

 five minutes passed, and still he showed no sign of relaxing 

 his grip. At last W. P. got hold of him and pulled, but it 

 was only with difficulty we got him away. Then he raced 

 round the cage, smelling everywhere for his victim, and 

 evidently mad to continue the attack. Not even a shrew 

 could have shown greater ferocity, and I am sure if the 

 second mole had been alive they would have fought to the 

 death. 



I am sure that no one who has not watched a mole 

 feeding, bed-making, and attacking an enemy, can have an 

 idea of the little creature's intense energy and rapidity of 

 movement ; it can run backward as quickly as forward, it 



