4 Adams, Observations on a Captive Mole. 



worms, and once a dead mouse, in the same way. I 

 had never previously seen moles bury worms, and it is 

 interesting, as it tends to confirm the old stories of moles 

 storing up worms for food.* 



Worms are undoubtedly the favourite food, though 

 my captive ate slugs without hesitation [Auialia sozverbyi, 

 Arion hortensis, and Agnoliviax agrestis). 



I offered him also freshly killed bank voles and long- 

 tailed field mice, but he would only tackle them when 

 worms failed, and then only when slit open. The heart, 

 lungs, and intestines were the only parts touched. 

 Respecting the mole's food, the Rev. A. Woodrufife- 

 Peacock writes : " I have known young birds held by the 

 feet by moles in the shallow runs, a blackbird and young 

 pheasants .... Within the last four winters my brother 

 and I found a hooded crow picked clean by a mole in the 

 middle of a meadow. The frozen snow and tracks to its 

 earth proved it to be a mole which had fed on the dead 

 bird." 



1 he more I watch moles, the more convinced I am 

 that they are practically blind. When a worm is placed 

 near a mole the latter immediately shows signs of excite- 

 ment, being aware of its proximity by smell or hearing, 

 but it is only after poking about with its snout that it 

 strikes it haphazard. The mole never goes straight for 

 the worm, and when a half-eaten worm is dropt and has 

 crawled a little way, the same hunt for it is repeated. 



I kept the captive in a greenhouse, and one evening 

 he escaped by climbing up the rough corner of his box 



* Shortly after writing the above, I met a farmer on whose land I study 

 moles, and he informed me that a few days previously (March 30) while 

 digging out a fortress on one of his meadows he came upon a heap of dead 

 worms in the nest cavity close beside the nest. He described it as " three 

 spadefuls." This is most interesting, and is a peifectly reliable confirmation 

 of the stories of stored worms. 



