THE MOLES-COMMON MOLE. 



295 



Birth Once or twice a year the young 



and Training of Moles make their appearance, three 

 Moles. to five at a birth, and the mother 



takes care of them with great solicitude. The little 

 ones grow rather rapidly and stay with their mother 

 for one or two months. Then they become inde- 

 pendent and begin digging on their own account. 

 They can only be kept in captivity by bestowing 

 the utmost care upon them, as it is very difficult 

 to satisfy their great voracity. 



The Common The Common Mole (Talpa europcea), 

 Mole of which is the type of the whole fam- 



Europe. ily j j s a species confined to Europe 



and Asia. Inclusive of the tail, which measures one 

 inch, the length is six, at the utmost seven inches, 

 and the height at the shoul- , t 



ders is about two inches 

 The body is of cylindrical » 

 shape and the very short 

 legs end in short toes of 

 which the middle one is 

 longest. The toes are unit- 

 ed by a membrane for nearly 

 their entire length. The 

 eyes are about the size of a 

 poppy seed; they lie mid- 

 way between the tip of the 

 snout and the ears and are 

 completely covered with the 

 hair of the head; still they 

 are protected by lids and 

 may be projected or re- 

 tracted at will; therefore 

 they may be used. The ears 

 are small, and have no ex- 

 ternal conch. The uniform, 

 black fur is very close, short, 

 soft and velvety all over. 

 The animal is covered all 

 over with it with the excep- 

 tion of the paws, soles, tip 

 of the snout and end of the 

 tail. It has a somewhat 

 vivid lustre and sometimes 

 varies from the typical black 

 into a brownish, bluish or 

 even whitish tint. Yellow or 

 white Moles are found very 

 rarely. 



This Mole ranges all 

 over Europe and northern 

 Africa and extends through Asia to the Altai, or 

 even into Japan. It goes as far as the Amoor and 

 southward down to the Caucasus; in the Alps it is 

 found at an elevation of 6,000 feet. It is common 

 everywhere within this range and increases in a sur- 

 prising way in all sections where it is not pursued. 

 How the It designates its haunts by its own 



Mole Digs and handiwork in the surest way, as it is 

 Makes Hills. obliged to constantly construct new 

 hillocks in order to earn its living. These hillocks 

 always indicate the direction and extent of its exist- 

 ing hunting grounds. Owing to its extreme vorac- 

 ity, it is compelled constantly to enlarge these little 

 hills and therefore it is forever working at the exten- 

 sion of its underground domain. Incessantly it digs 

 horizontal shafts at a slight depth from the surface 

 and in order to remove the earth it has dug up, it 

 throws up the well known hillocks. 



Digging is very easy work for a Mole. With the 

 aid of the strong muscles of its neck and the im- 



THE STAR-NOSED MOLE. One of the most peculiar of 



the Insect-Eating Animals is tiie American species of Mole shown in 

 this picture. Its tail is longer than that of any other Mole, but the 

 strangest feature is the cartilaginous rays which are placed in star- 

 like form around the nostrils. (Condylura cristata.) 



mense spade-like hands, with which it holds itself 

 steady, it bores its snout into the loose ground, 

 loosens the surrounding earth with its fore-paws and 

 throws it backward with extraordinary rapidity. Its 

 ears are perfectly protected from the entrance of 

 sand and earth by their ability to close themselves. 

 The loosened earth is left to lie behind in the pas- 

 sage that is being constructed until the quantity 

 becomes inconvenient. Then the Mole makes its 

 way to the surface and throws the earth out little by 

 little with its snout. During these operations it is 

 nearly always covered with a layer of loose earth 

 from five to six inches deep. In loose ground the 

 animal works with really admirable rapidity. Oken 

 kept a Mole in a box of sand for three months, and 

 observed the animal work 

 ^Ife its way in it nearly as rap- 

 I idly as a fish glides through 

 the water, snout foremost, 

 using the fore-paws to throw 

 the sand to the side and the 

 hind limbs to push it back- 

 ward. In its underground 

 passages the Mole proceeds 

 with still greater speed, as 

 has been demonstrated by 

 very pretty experiments. 



Lecourt wished to investi- 

 gate the speed of a Mole in 

 its conduits, and for this 

 purpose he employed a 

 means as ingenious as it was 

 amusing. He set up in a row 

 a number of heavy straws in 

 the main conduit, arranged 

 so that the Mole could not 

 run along the passage with- 

 ou touching them. To the 

 tops of these straws he fast- 

 ened small paper flags, and 

 when the Mole was occupied 

 in its hunting ground, he 

 frightened it with the sound 

 of a bugle, and thus caused 

 it to run into the main con- 

 duit. Then the little flags 

 fell down one after another, 

 the instant the Mole touched 

 them, and the observer and 

 his assistants had an oppor- 

 tunity to correctly record 

 the speed of its course for a short distance. 



Principal The Mole has many foes besides 

 Foes of the Man. Polecats, Stoats, Owls and 

 Mole. Falcons, Ravens and Storks watch it 



as it throws up its hillocks; the little Weasels even 

 pursue it in its conduits, where, as already, men- 

 tioned, it also frequently falls a prey to the Adder. 

 Terriers find great pleasure in watching a digging 

 Mole, then throwing it up with a sudden jerk, and 

 killing it with a few bites. Only Foxes, Weasels, 

 Hedgehogs and the before mentioned birds eat it; 

 the other adversaries only kill it and let it lie. 



., , D , , . The American species of Moles are re- 



Closely Related garded as d i stinct from those of Europe 



Amencan because of differences in dentition and other 



bpecies. variations. The Common American Mole 



(Scafops aquaticus) inhabits the eastern portion of the United 



States, and in its size, appearance and mode of life so much 



resembles the European species that to the ordinary observer 



the differences are scarcely apparent. A Mole known as the 



Silver or Prairie Mole (Sea/ops argentatus) is found in Texas 



and Mexico, but shows little to distinguish it from the Common 



