LITTLE GENTLEMAN IN BLACK VELVET COAT ' 



was the mole, a poor little black smudge in 

 the middle of a ring of soiled and flattened 

 snow. The ' little gentleman in the black 

 velvet coat ' had paid dearly for venturing so 

 near the surface. 



The only creature which regularly kills 

 moles is the buzzard, which takes many home 

 to feed its young, evidently getting them by 

 dropping upon them when heaving near the 

 surface. But as the buzzard is a bird of the 

 hills and wild moorlands, the moles of the 

 cultivated lands have few or no enemies to 

 fear, and can drive their tunnels far and near 

 with no danger from anything save the mole- 

 catcher and his traps. The wonderful velvet fur, 

 which is a special adaptation to underground 

 life, having, unlike the coats of most creatures, 

 no ' set ' in any one direction, costs thousands of 

 moles their lives, for it is one of the few really 

 valuable furs that we get in England. The 

 short erect hairs enable the mole to turn and 

 twist, go backwards or forwards in the narrow 

 damp passages, and yet never get really dirty, 

 a shake, a few scrapes with its paws, being at 

 any time enough to make it again spick and 

 span. I sometimes saw my tame mole use 

 his hind feet to scrape the clay from between 



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