2 Adams, Observations on a Captive Mole. 



mole for eight days, and turned him out at last as hearty 

 and vigorous as when I first caught him, and this without 

 leaving nearly as much food as I have done on previous 

 occasions when the captives succumbed during the night. 



I noticed one day, when the weather was somewhat 

 colder, that he made the nest more compact by pulling in 

 the hay from the inside. On the fourth day he became 

 very restless, so I changed all the earth in the box as 

 well as the hay, thinking that the dead worms and mice 

 with which I had supplied him had fouled his restricted 

 quarters, though I could detect no offensive odour attend- 

 ing him ; but he continued restless till I gave him his 

 liberty on the eighth day of his captivity, placing him in 

 a neighbouring field where he made many mounds, and I 

 finally lost sight of him when the field was ploughed. 



Writing in the Ulster Echo, July 31st, 1903, Mr. M. 

 Woodward, the author of an article on the mole in 

 Pearsons Magazine for July of that year, quoting Mr. A. 

 Runciman, says : " [The mole] having caught his worm 

 . . . seizes it by the tail, off which he bites a small piece ; 

 then he turns the worm round. This is accomplished 

 with his paws, the sides of which, while their palms turn 

 towards the front, grip the worm firmly. Then the mole, 

 having turned the worm, draws it into his mouth with a 

 series of short quick jerks, at the same time moving his 

 paws slightly forward. And the effect of this movement 

 is to cause the earth to squirt out at the tail end, the 

 tip having been cut off purposely to give the earth free 

 vent. Thus the mole secures a clean meal, without any 

 distasteful clay. Evidently he knows that the tail is the 

 proper part of the worm to bite off, and that he must 

 begin feeding at the nose to effect his purpose." 



Now, during the time that my captive was under close 

 observation — indeed I spent most of my time in his 



