THE MOLE 337 



They do much damage. One will skim down the middle 

 of a mangold balk on a hot day, and " share them out " as 

 cleanly as a plough would, the roots dying and withering. 

 They play the mischief, too, in barley-fields, for they prefer 

 soft ground ; it is easier work ; but they will work anywhere. 

 On the uplands, however, they do not throw up hills, but 

 merely place their nests in a hole in a hedgerow, each family 

 having a hole to itself. 



When in the fields, they will soon leave if there is any- 

 thing they do not like — a poisoned companion, for example — 

 and wander off" to some neighbouring field; indeed, the}- 

 will " work up " a field in a few days, so old mole-experts 

 assure me. 



In the spring-time the keen trapper is busy setting his 

 primitive snares, rubbing the bows carefully with mould first 

 to kill all scent, and then being careful to set the trap in 

 a main-run ; for it is no use, old trappers say, to set the trap 

 where they feed, but only in the main-run to or from their 

 feeding-galleries. They also frequent the main-runs to river- 

 wall or hedgerow when the ground is very damp. I have 

 seen one trap catch after it had been set five minutes, but 

 such is rarely the case. A catcher gets eight or ten from one 

 main-run, or thirty or forty if lucky. 



When caught, they are always gibbeted on thorn-sticks, 

 to show the farmer's eyes and please his heart. I have some- 

 times seen a hundred and sixty carcases hung on a thorn- 

 bush, in various stages of decomposition. 



Some mole-catchers say they put a drop of oil of aniseed 



on the trap to attract the moles. But one old fellow told me 



" he once tried that, and the warmin sarved him out." He 



said he put a drop on the bows, and caught one ; then he put 



another drop on, but when he went to the trap again it 



"weren't sprung;" and on examining it, he found they 



had " blocked " it, i.e., filled it with earth. This old fellow 



used to put young moles on a bench, but they could see 



it had a fall to the ground, so they never went over 



y 



