8 THE MOLE 



yet the internal ears are perfectly developed, as also is the olfactory 

 sense. In length the common mole measures on an average about 

 4 in. The female brings forth four to six young, about the 

 month of April, and these are lodged in a special nest prepared 

 by the parents, and lined by young grass and soft roots. 



Moles live in pairs, the habitation, formed under an hillock, Fig. 

 6, lower figure, consisting of an upper and lower gallery, which 

 communicate by five passages, the principal chamber being con- 

 tained within the lower and larger gallery, from which the mole 

 can escape, either by the high road of the upper or lower gallery, 

 and which lead to the hunting grounds. The burrows in these are 

 sometimes superficial, as in summer, when worms are near the 

 surface, and at other times, as in winter, the burrows are deeper, 

 and often of considerable depth, assumedly to secure water in 

 situations at a far distance from a brook or ditch. Each mole or 

 pair has its own hunting grounds, yet there are high roads connect- 

 ing the different hunting grounds with each other, which may be used 

 by individuals in common, but if two moles meet, either one must 

 make speedy retreat, or an encounter takes place, resulting in the 

 vanquishing of the weaker. 



The mole is common in England, Wales and Scotland, but is 

 said to be comparatively rare in Ireland. It inhabits or frequents 

 woods, copses, commons, moors, and waste places, hedgerows and 

 ditches, pastures and meadows, arable land, parks, pleasure grounds 

 orchards and gardens. In these locations the mole tunnels in various 

 directions and varied depths in quest of food, which consists of 

 worms, insect larvae, notably wireworm, cockchafer grubs, and other 

 root-devouring pests. By its burrowing it cuts the roots of plants, 

 these being uprooted by the surface runs or covered up by the hil- 

 locks, hence in gardens, allotments, and arable land the mole is an 

 intolerable nuisance, indeed, in all cultivated land and well-kept 

 grounds. In pastures and meadows the mole may be tolerated 

 in winter and early spring, when the greater proportion of mole- 

 hills are thrown up, and if the mounds are spread just before the 

 fields are closed for hay, few more will appear, as in summer the 

 mole works near its breeding place, such as a hedge-bank, where, 

 in the ditch and its sides it finds sufficient food. Besides, the 

 mould upcast by moles dispersed by chain and brush harrowing 

 acts as a sort of top-dressing and benefits grass land. The retire- 

 ment of moles in summer to damp, shady places for feeding, such as 

 ditches and hollows by or in woods and copses, marks the measure 

 of its usefulness in these locations as most pronounced, where, and 

 in waste places, the balance of nature is not materially affected 

 by cultivation, and from whence incursions are made by predatory 

 pests to the prejudice of the cultivator of the soil. Thus the mole 

 is useful, inasmuch as all the grubs it destroys in woods, copses 

 and waste places are kept from adult stage, when they take flight 



