Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlvii. (1903), No. 4. 27 



" rutting runs " are certainly more frequently met with 

 about the pairing season than at other times, but on damp 

 soft land they may occasionally be seen at any time of 

 the year. 



Enemies of the Mole. 



Blasius says, " The mole is eaten by various beasts and 

 birds of prey, storks and snakes. The birds of prey and 

 storks wait for him by his heaps ; stoats, weasels, the 

 common adder penetrate his runs and dwellings and follow 

 him therein." However this may be in Continental Europe, 

 the mole's natural enemies in Great Britain are few 

 and incidental. Our native snakes are not able, I 

 imagine, to tackle so large a prey successfully, though 

 a writer in Science Gossip, 1878, says that, near Ventnor, 

 he killed a large adder out of which he extracted a 

 full-grown mole. Mr. G. R. Leighton* says, " The 

 dietary [of adders] usually given, consists of mice, .... 

 moles .... " but no authorities are quoted and " usually 

 given " is indefinite. Personally, I should be inclined to 

 think the mole more likely to prey upon the adder. 



The weasel has often been caught in mole-traps set in 

 the runs, and doubtless the larger stoat preys upon moles 

 occasionally, but it is not likely that the stoat follows the 

 mole along the runs. 



The heron probably snaps one up now and then by 

 the water-side, as I have known this bird to swallow a 

 nearly full-grown water vole. I have found moles' skulls 

 and bones in owls' pellets, and my friend Mr. C. Oldham 

 has had a similar experience. Owls doubtless catch them 

 when they come to the surface at night to get grass for 

 the nest. 



A fox terrier of mine would hunt moles successfully. 



* " Li/e Histoiy of British Serpents,'' p. 84. 



