THE INSECTIVOEA. 43 



impossible for two males to pass one another in the pairing 

 season without a desperate fight a Voutrance. 



The nest, distinct from the fortress, is likewise beneath 

 some hillock ; and as the moles use it but once, the 

 deserted dwelling is usually appropriated by 

 field-mice. The number of the litter would 

 seem to average five, and personally I never found more, 

 though six, and even seven, are recorded. They appear to 

 be born about the end of July, at least I have found them 

 still blind the first week in August. 



The appearance of the mole is too familiar to need 



detailed description ; in fact, as the characters given in 



this little book are only such as may enable the reader 



to distinguish the species under notice, it is 



ppearance, g(,g^j.(.giy necessary to enumerate the features 



of one that could scarcely be confused with 

 any other. In colour the mole is, as a rule, glossy black, 

 but grey, yellow, and even albino examples are not rare. 

 When first born, the young are pale brown or grey, their 

 snout being of a delicate pink. The average weight of an 

 adult mole is just under 4 ounces. 



It has attracted the attention of more than one writer 

 on the subject that so interesting a creature as the mole, 



one, too, sufiiciently common in his part of 

 -D ,^ , Hampshire, should have been mentioned but 



once, and that incidentally, in White's ' Sel- 

 borne.' This reminds me of the drawing of a mole's hand 

 with six fingers, which embellishes Buckland's (1875) 

 edition of that work. 



3. The Shkews. 



In the Shrews, we come to the least of our mammals, 

 smallest of all being the Lesser Shrew, which holds the 

 same position in its class as the goldcrest among our birds. 

 Though frequently confounded with the rodent mice, they 

 have no more in connnon with them than have the so-called 



