336 BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



beneath the soil) in dry weather, for the worms descend 

 for moisture, and they follow ; but after a shower of rain, 

 when the worms come up, they will skim, and you can see 

 the worms coming out of the ground before them. Just as. 

 when frosts are coming the worms know, and they bore 

 down, and the mole follows, working deeper ; indeed, some 

 aged broadsmen regard the moles working downwards as 

 a sign of coming frost. 



Old mole-catchers assure me the male makes a straighter 

 run than the female, and goes for a hundred or a couple of 

 hundred yards without turning to the right or left. 



The young begin by skimming, and very superficial 

 skimming it is, for they are not strong enough to skim 

 deeply. They generally take their first lessons, too, after 

 a rain-storm ; and you may, if quiet, see them working, and 

 hear the roots crack as they pass below, delving along very 

 slowly, though they can run very swiftly in their galleries — 

 so swiftly that you can hardly see them, which is not the 

 case with them outside, for dry weather drives the young 

 forth for food ; and the Jacks, too, come forth to fight, and 

 fight fiercely with their claws, with their fur laid back, and 

 their bead -eyes staring, looking twice their natural size. 

 And you may know they are males, for they are larger than 

 the females, have bigger feet, and many of them have a 

 yellowish spot under their bellies, probably an age-spot, 

 or "grey hairs." These must not be confounded with those 

 cream-coloured moles — found in certain soils by Flegg and 

 Reedham — albinos not uncommon. And should you catch 

 a mole just as he comes from his run, you will find him 

 covered with fleas ; and, strange to say, directly he gets 

 into the open air, the fleas leave him, just as vermin-like 

 ideas leave men when they too get into the open country. 

 They will leave their cover too sometimes during snow- 

 storms, and draw to thinned patches, "rutting" like a pig 

 in the grass, occasionally skimming a few inches of turf. 

 They can swim, too, like a water-vole. 



