138 COMMON MOLE. 



which the earth is rendered very compact, is formed 

 a circular gallery, communicating with a smaller 

 gallery placed above it by several passages. On 

 the level of the lower, or larger gallery, is a roundish 

 cavity or chamber, communicating with the upper 

 by three passages. From the outer gallery branch 

 off a number of passages, which run out to a variable 

 extent, and, forming an irregular curve, terminate 

 in what may be called the high-road, which is a 

 long passage proceeding from the outer circular 

 gallery, and at the same time communicating di- 

 rectly with the central cavity. It extends to the 

 farthest limit of the domain, is of somewhat greater 

 diameter than the body of the animal, has its walls 

 comparatively compact, and communicates with the 

 numerous passages by which the domain is inter- 

 sected. By this principal passage the Mole visits 

 the various parts of its hunting-ground, burrowing 

 to either side, and throwing out the earth here and 

 there so as to form heaps or mole-hills. As it tra- 

 verses this path several times daily, it is in it that 

 snares are laid for its capture. The excavations 

 vary in their distance from the surface according to 

 the nature of the soil and other circumstances. In 

 deep rich earth they are sometimes nearly a foot in 

 depth, while in gravelly or clayey ground, covered 

 with a thin layer of soil, they are often scarcely an 

 inch. Often, also, the Mole burrows quite close to 

 the surface of rich loose soil which has been 

 ploughed, and sometimes runs along it, forming 

 merely a groove or trench. The principal object of 



