Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlvii. (1903), ^o. 4. 33 



nose and dodged it about, but the mole took no notice of 

 it whatever, and would have run into the flame if I had 

 not withdrawn it. On another occasion I placed worms 

 before a captive mole. It quickly became aware of their 

 presence, but from the random way it poked about for 

 them I was convinced that it was seeking them by scent 

 and not sight. 



That a mole can see anything much further than its 

 nose, even if possessed with average sight, is extremely 

 unlikely. The low position of its head would in its 

 ordinary haunts among grass prevent the animal seeing 

 beyond an inch or so, even were the eyes not covered 

 with fur. Blasius, following Saint- Hilaire and Cadet de 

 Vaux, says that when a mole is thrown into water the 

 fur radiates from the eye and so makes vision possible. 

 I have not been able to detect this, though I have experi- 

 mented on purpose to do so. The only occasion that has 

 come under my notice of the fur radiating and exposing 

 the eye was when I was holding a dying mole in my 

 hand— during its last convulsions I noticed the fur radiate. 



Habits. 



I have watched a captive mole swim. The entire 

 head and back to within half an inch from the tail are 

 high out of water, and the end of the tail protrudes 

 above the surface. The movements of the limbs are 

 very rapid, downward and backward, after the manner 

 of the dog. The little creature attains a pace equal to 

 that of the water vole. 



I have the following interesting note from Mr. 

 C. E. Wright, of Kettering, respecting the mole eating 

 partridges' eggs. Writing July 8th, 1902, he says : "The 

 keepers here tell me they are sure moles are great 

 destroyers of partridges' and pheasants' eggs, and have 

 noticed them in the act of eating them. For some time 



