270 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



means common. Four white examples were killed, 

 however, a few miles out of the town in 1892 ; and 

 a cream-coloured one was noticed by a ditch-side on 

 the Caister marshes a year or two after. 



THE MOLE 



The Mole is common enough everywhere, but 

 few persons beyond its enemy the mole-catcher pay 

 much heed to its doings. In frosty weather it is a 

 most reliable barometer, and exhibits its " forecast " 

 of a coming break by the fresh mole heaps thrown 

 up in its travels. 



In the summer of 1894 I caught one as it was 

 shifting its quarters from one marsh to another. 

 I seized the startled creature by the neck, but the 

 lissom way in which it squirmed and endeavoured 

 to seize my fingers, together with its shrill squeaks, 

 induced me speedily to drop it into a handkerchief, 

 and thence into an empty pail, wherein it danced 

 and capered in quite a frenzy of rage and fright. 

 Intending to take it home and make a pet of it, 

 I left it there all night with some rubbish for 

 burrowing in, but found it dead in the morning. 



In 1895 I discovered several cream - coloured 



