THE MOLE. 141 



I think we have reason for suspecting that a 

 shrew new to Britain exists in this neighbourhood. 

 A pale blue shrew (sorex Daubentonii 9 Cuvier) 

 has been seen about the margins of our reenes, and 

 the deep marsh ditches cut for draining the water 

 from the low lands of the Severn ; and something 

 of the same kind, in a half-digested state, has been 

 found in the stomach of the heron. If it exist with 

 us, a similar tract of land in more fenny countries 

 may contain it plentifully, though it has yet es- 

 caped detection. 



The mole, want, mouldwarper, or mouldturner 

 (talpa europcea), is common with us, as it appears 

 to be in most places ; and no creature gives more 

 certain indication of its presence, haunting, from 

 preference, such places as its predecessors have 

 done, though years may have intervened since they 

 were frequented, and rains, and the treading of 

 heavy cattle, have compressed to solid earth the 

 ancient runs ; and, however assiduously we may 

 destroy them, should they appear again, it will pro- 

 bably be in the same places that have been formerly 

 perforated by others. The earth that these animals 

 eject from their runs, being obtained from very near 

 the surface, and finely pulverised, has tempted me 

 more than once to have it collected for my green- 

 house plants, but not with the success that I had 

 conjectured. Some persons have advocated the 

 cause of moles, as being beneficial to vegetation, by 

 loosening the soil about the roots of plants. Evelyn 

 and others, again/ censure them as injurious crea- 



