34 Adams, On the Hfole {Ta/pa eiiropccd). 



I had noticed the moles working under pheasants' and 

 partridges' nests, but thought it was by accident that 

 they burrowed under them when working for food, &c. 

 This year I have made notes of this, and found numbers 

 of nests ' let down,' as the keepers call it. I found nine 

 nests at different times and places, some in hedgerows, 

 some in long grass in the fields, others (pheasants') 

 in the woods. One nest I found (a partridge's) with 

 twelve eggs in a deep hedgerow, no dyke or water 

 near. I watched this nest, as moles were working in the 

 field, and there was no run near the nest then. Several days 

 afterwards I visited the nest, and found that a mole had ' let 

 it down,' and was feeding on the eggs, nine of which were 

 broken and the rest were in the mole's run. I had often 

 previously found the nests ' let down ' and the contents 

 gone, but thought that the bird had deserted the nest 

 because of the disturbance to it, and that rats or rooks 

 had taken the eggs. I am quite sure it is the mole that 

 takes the eggs, not by accidentally coming across them 

 in its working, but working up to them to get at them." 



It has been asserted that the mole dies from a very 

 slight tap on the nose. This is not always so. I once 

 caught a mole alive in an iron forceps trap, which had 

 crushed the loins, and, wishing to kill it, I struck it a 

 sharp blow on the nose with a heavy sheath knife which 

 I used to cut holes in the ground for the traps. It bled 

 profusely at the ears and appeared dead, but after a 

 few minutes showed signs of life. -I again struck it across 

 the nose with the heavy knife, but several blows were 

 necessary to kill it. I think this mole took as much 

 killing as a full-grown rat. This tenacity of life is the 

 more remarkable when it is remembered that the hind 

 limbs were quite paralysed by the iron trap. 



Most certainly the mole does not hibernate. All 



