O2 COMMON MOLE. 



ease. His nose, formed like that of the hog, is 

 admirably calculated for searching out his food, of 

 worms, insects, and the roots of grass and other vege- 

 tables. His eyes, it is true, are minute ; so much so, 

 indeed, that many persons have considered him to be 

 blind : yet these eyes, such as they are, possess every 

 requisite for distinct vision. Moles are usually at 

 work, during fine weather, about sun-rise ; and again 

 at the end of about every four hours until dark. In 

 the winter they burrow so deep into the ground as to 

 be out of the reach of injury by frost. A single Mole 

 will oftentimes make as many as nine or ten of those 

 hillocks of earth which we observe in meadows and 

 pastures. These hillocks are thrown up for the purpose 

 of clearing the earth out of their passages or galleries. 

 When dug out of the ground, and seized in the hand, 

 they utter a shrill scream ; and, if care be not taken to 

 prevent it, will bite very severely. They produce four 

 or five young ones at a litter, and this generally about 

 the month of April. Their nest is formed under the 

 surface of the ground, of leaves and grass. These 

 animals prove sometimes injurious to the farmer, by 

 undermining his fields in various parts, and throwing 

 up numerous hillocks. They are caught by means of 

 traps, which are set in their galleries, by persons em- 

 ployed for that purpose, called mole-catchers, who 

 are paid for this work, at a certain stipulated rate per 

 dozen. 



The usual length of the Mole is about five inches, and 

 the tail is about an inch long. The head is large, and 

 terminates in a cartilaginous snout. The neck is pecu- 

 liarly short and thick ; and the eyes, as before observed, 

 are so minute as scarcely to be perceptible. The fore 

 feet are short, but excessively strong and broad : they 



