1011 



TALriD-SX 



TAM'Ii'.r. 



1011 



Tetth of Molf, conl<lerbly enlarged. (F. Curler.) 



it, is I* Taupe of the French, Talpa of the Romans and Italians, 

 Topo of the Spanish, Toupeira of the Portuguese, Maulwerf of the 

 Germans, Mol of the Dutch, Mulvad and Surk of the Swedes, Muld- 

 varp of the Danes ; Hole, Mole- Warp, Moldwarp, and Want of tho 

 KnglUh ; and Qwadd and Twrch-Daear of the Welsh. 



" A subterraneous life," says Pennant, speaking of the Mole, " being 

 allotted to it, the seeming defects of several of its parts vanish ; 

 which, instead of appearing maimed or unfinished, exhibit a most 

 striking proof of the fitness of their contrivance. The breadth, 

 strength, and shortness of the fore feet, which are inclined sideways, 

 answer the use as well as the form of hands, to scoop out the earth, 

 to form its habitation, or to pursue its prey. Had they been longer, 

 the falling in of the earth would have prevented the quick repetition 

 of it* strokes in working, or have impeded its course : the oblique 

 position of the fore feet has also this advantage, that it flings all the 

 loose soil behind the animal 



" The form of the body is not lets admirably contrived for its way 

 of life : the fore part is thick and very muscular, giving great strength 

 to the action of the fore part, enabling it to dig its way with great 

 force and rapidity, either to pursue its prey or elude the search of 

 the most active enemy. The form of its hind parts, which are small 

 and taper, enables it to pass with great facility through the earth that 

 the fore feet had flung behind ; for had each part of the body been 

 of equal thickness, its flight would have been impeded and its security 

 precarious. 



" The skin is most excessively compact, and so tough as not to be 

 cut but by a very sharp knife ; the hair is very short and close-set, 

 and softer than the finest silk ; the usual colour is black, not but that 

 there are instances of these animals being spotted, and a cream- 

 coloured breed U sometimes found in my lands near Downing. 



" The smallness of the eyes (which gave occasion to the ancients to 

 deny it the sense of sight) is to this animal a peculiar happiness; a 

 mall degree of vision is sufficient for an animal ever destined to live 

 underground; had these organs been larger, they would have been 

 perpetually liable to injuries by the earth falling into them ; but nature, 

 to prevent that inconvenience, hath not only made them very small, 

 but also covered them very closely with fur. Anatomists mention 

 (besides these) a third very wonderful contrivance for their security, 

 and inform us that each eye is furnished with a certain muscle, by 

 which the animal has the power of withdrawing or exerting them, 

 according to its exigencies. 



" To make amends for the dimness of its sight, the Mole is amply 

 recompensed by the great perfection of two other senses, those of 

 hearing and of smelling : the first gives it notice of the most distant 

 approach of danger ; the other, which is equally exquisite, directs it 

 in the midst of darkness to its food : the nose also, being very long 

 and slender, is well formed for thrusting into small holes in search of 

 the worms and insects that inhabit them. These gifts may with reason 

 be said to compensate the defect of sight, as they supply in this animal 

 all iU want* and all the purposes of that sense. 



" It is supposed that the verdant circles so often seen in gross- 

 grounds, called by country-people fairy-rings, are owing to the opera- 

 tions of these animals, who, at certain seasons perform their burrow- 

 logs by circumgyrations, which, loosening the soil, give the surface a 

 greater fertility and ranknew of grass than the other parts within or 

 without the ring. 



" The Mole breeds in the spring, and bring* four or five young at a 

 time : it makes iU nest of moss, and that always under the largest 

 hillock, a little below the surface of the ground. It is observed to bo 

 most active, and to cast up most earth, immediately before rain, and 



in the winter before a thaw, because at those times the worms and 

 Insects begin to be in motion and approach the surface : on the con- 

 trary, in very dry weather this animal seldom or never forms any 

 hillocks, as it penetrates deep after its prey, which at such seasons 

 retires far into tho ground. During summer it runs in search of 

 mails and worms in the night time among the grass, which makes it 

 the prey of owls. The Mole shows great art in skinning a worm, which 

 it always does before it cats it ; stripping the skin from end to end 

 and squeezing out the contents of tho body." 



Le Court, a French writer, has given the most complete account of 

 the habitation of the Mole : The principal point is the habitation, or, 

 as it has been termed, the fortress ; and U constructed under a con- 

 siderable hillock raised in some secure place, often at the root of a 

 tree, under a bonk, or any shelter that offers protection. The fortress 

 is domed by a cement, go to speak, of earth which has been beaten 

 and compressed by the architect into a compact and solid state. 

 Within, a circular gallery is formed at Ute base, and communicates 

 with a smaller upper gallery by means of five passages, which ore 

 nearly at equal distances. Within the lower and under the upper of 

 these galleries is the chamber, or dormitory, which has access to the 

 upper gallery by three similar passages. From this habitation, we 

 should here observe, the high road by which the proprietor reaches 

 the opposite end of the encampment extends, and the various galleries 

 or excavations open into this road, which the mole is continually 

 carrying out and extending in its search for food, and which bos been 

 termed its hunting-ground. But to return to the chamber. From it 

 another road extends, the direction of which is downwards at first, 

 and that for several inches, when it again rises to open into tho high 

 road of the territory. Some eight or nine other passages open out 

 from the external circular gallery, but the orifices of these never come 

 opposite to the passages which connect the external gallery with the 

 internal and upper gallery. The extent of these passages is greater or 

 lest according to circumstances, and they each return by an irregular 

 and semicircular route, opening at various distances from the habitation 

 into the high road, which differs considerably from all the other pas- 

 sages and excavations, both in construction and with regard to the 

 use to which it is applied. From the habitation this road is carried 

 out nearly in a straight line, and forms the main passage of communi- 

 cation between the habitation, the different portions of the encamp- 

 ment, and the alleys leading to the hunting-ground which open into 

 it on each aide. In diameter it exceeds the body of a mole, but its 

 size will not admit of two moles passing each other. The walls, from 

 the reiterated pressure of the mole's sides against them, become 

 smooth and compact, and its .course is remarkable for the comparative 

 absence of mole-hills, which are frequent in connection with the alleys 

 and quarries, as they have been termed, in constructing which the 

 earth is removed out of the way to the surface. Sometimes a mole 

 will lay out a second or even a third road in order to the extension of 

 its operations. Sometimes several individuals use one road in common, 

 though they never trespass on each other's hunting-grounds. In the 

 event of common usage, if two moles should happen to meet, one 

 must retreat into the nearest alley, unless both should be pugnacious ; 

 in which case the weakest U often slain. In forming this tunnel the 

 mole's instinct supplies the place of science, for he drives it at a 

 greater or less depth, according to the quality of the soil, or concurrent 

 circumstances. When there is nothing superincumbent threatening a 

 disturbance of its security, it is often excavated at a depth of some 

 four or five inches; but if it is carried under a rood or a stream, a 

 foot and a half of earth, sometimes more, is left above it Thus does 

 the little animal carry on the subterraneous works necessary for his 

 support, travelling, and comfort ; and his tunnels never fall in. 



Habitation or Fortrwa of Mole. 



The alleys opening out from the sides of the high road havo~gcne- 

 rally a somewhat downward inclination from their commencement 



