14 Transactions of the 



then introduced a horn at one end (having first ascertained that 

 the mole was in tiie run). He then began blowing it loudly. 

 The mole immediately rushed along, knocking down the twigs ; 

 and he considered that it went as fast as a horse could trot at its 

 greatest sj)eed. 



During pairing-time the mole is exceedingly fierce, and two 

 males cannot meet without a mortal conflict ensuing. Sometimes 

 they even venture out of their runs to fight, and wiien this is the 

 case, they can be easily approached and captured, so intent are 

 they on loattle. The pairing season takes jjlace late in the spring. 

 The mole generally has four or five at a birth, but never less than 

 two. The young moles begin to run in about five weeks, but 

 they do not then leave their mother. Jesse, in his 'Natural 

 History,' says that a mole-catcher once found, on taking a female 

 out of the trap, five young ones clinging to her, none of which 

 made any attempt to escape. 



The appetite of the mole is wonderfully voracious. Its food 

 chiefly consists of worms, but even birds and frogs, or snails, are 

 sometimes eaten as well. It will not, however, touch a toad. 

 The attitude of the mole when devouring its prey is very curious: 

 it draws its back up, retracts its head between the shoulders, and 

 pushes the worm into its mouth with its fore-paws. A very short 

 fast is fatal to it ; in fact, when two moles are kept in confine- 

 ment together, and not siiificiently supplied with food, the weaker 

 is invariably killed and devoured by the stronger, even to the very 

 bones, the skin alone being left. I have read that ten or twelve 

 hours is the longest period they can live without food, but this 

 seems to contradict Linnaeus's statement that the mole is torpid 

 in winter. 



Another fact which seems to prove that the mole does not 

 become torpid is, that just before the winter season commences it 

 makes a basin of clay and fills it with mutilated worms to provide 

 for its wants through the winter months. It is also a well-known 

 fact that it sinks wells in the dry season, but this is only done 

 when a pond is not sufficiently near, for if one be at hand a run 

 is invariably found leading to it. The mole can' swim very well 

 indeed, and in the case of floods, or when about to change its 

 abode, it often takes to the water. 



The skeleton of the mole is worthy of a brief notice. On exam- 

 ining the animal you at once see that its entire strength is centred 

 in its forequarters, the shoulder-blades being of enormous size, 

 and projecting far above the spine, while the muscles of the neck 

 are also very powerful, and the ligaments are hardened into bone. 

 The nose, too, is furnished with an accessory bone, that projects 

 into the snout, and gives it great strength and mobility. The 



