28 HABITS OF WORMS. Chap. I. 



piano ; and their sensitiveness to jars varied 

 much at different times. 



It has often been said that if the ground is 

 beaten or otherwise made to tremble, worms 

 believe that they are pursued by a mole 

 and leave their burrows. From one account 

 that I have received, I have no doubt that 

 this is often the case ; but a gentleman 

 informs me that he lately saw eight or ten 

 worms leave their burrows and crawl about 

 the grass on some boggy land on which two 

 men had just trampled while setting a trap ; 

 and this occurred in a part of Ireland where 

 there were no moles. I have been assured 

 by a Volunteer that he has often seen many 

 large earth-worms crawling quickly about 

 the grass, a few minutes after his company 

 had fired a volley with blank cartridges. The 

 Peewit (Tringa vanellus, Linn.) seems to know 

 instinctively that worms will emerge if the 

 ground is made to tremble ; for Bishop 

 Stanley states (as I hear from Mr. Moorhouse) 

 that a young peewit kept in confinement used 

 to stand on one leg and beat the turf with 

 the other leg until the worms crawled out 

 of their burrows, when they were instantly 



