THE COMMON MOLE, MOLDWARP OR WANT 43 



darted off to seek another." This mole kept his velvet coat 

 carefully brushed and licked by a tiny red tongue. 



It is doubtful if such intelligence as the Mole possesses is, 

 apart from its ordinary routine, of a high character. It 

 seems to know how to avoid anything tainted by the touch of 

 human hands, so that mole-catchers rub the inside of a trap 

 with a dead mole before setting it, but the rapidity with which 

 it becomes indifferent to being handled is suggestive of a dull 

 brain. "When first caught," writes Mr Adams, "they squeak 

 and bite viciously, but within an hour I have taken them up by 

 the skin of the back without their protesting. I have frequently 

 stroked and tickled my captives while they were engaged in 

 eating, and I have held them up by the tail while they lapped 

 water. I taught my last captive to come blundering along 

 for food when I scratched upon the earth or the side of 

 his box." 



When angry or alarmed, moles can squeak ^ in a loud, 

 shrill fashion, recalling the voice of a bat or shrew. But 

 they have also other notes, one of which Mr Evans describes 

 as somewhat like the purring of a cat or the distant jarring 

 of a nightjar. 



Mr Adams is nothing if not thorough in his studies of his 

 favourite animal, so that it is not surprising to find him test- 

 ing the gastronomic qualities of mole-flesh, with the result that 

 he found baby moles excellent eating, "much like rabbit, the 

 flesh being white and very tender." 



Mole-skins were formerly accounted of some value, and even 

 in times of depreciation, according to Mr Henry Poland, several 

 thousands changed hands annually, at a price of about one 

 penny to a penny farthing each, to be made up into waistcoats. 

 One so made was composed of no less than fifty skins, and was 

 highly commended by the editor of the Field for its light- 

 ness and warmth. Of late years, as I am informed on excellent 

 authority, a fluctuating demand has arisen for the skins in the 

 manufacture of ladies' coats. 



1 Alston, Zoologist, 1865, 9708 ; also, R. F. C, Field, 6th May 1876, 501. 



Note. — Owen Jones has printed {Ten Years of Gamekeepi?ig, 298) the description 

 by an eye-witness of a mole gathering material for its nest : — " I heard a rustling 



