32 



INSECTIVORA 



a inoor behind the Dalmahoy hills. I ought to say that my 

 attention was first directed to this want of uniformity by 

 Mr M'Leish, mole-catcher, Corstorphine. 



Under gallery communicating dir- 

 ectly with the central chamber 

 and the outside runs. Three 

 escape-holes lower in the cham- 

 ber are shown in dotted lines. 



Upper gallery opening downwards 

 (at the arrows) into the under one, 

 which is shown in dotted lines. 



The voracity of the Mole is well known. A year or two 

 ago I placed one at dusk into a deep box in which a quantity 

 of earth had stood for a considerable time. An hour after- 

 wards, on looking into the box by the light of a lantern, 

 innumerable worms were observed all round the sides endea- 

 vouring to make their escape. The Mole, however, was out 

 of sight, but his presence was indicated by slight upheavals 

 of the soil. By next morning he had not left a worm, and so 

 keen was his appetite that it was found impossible to meet 

 its demands, and he died after four days of confinement. 

 Instances of Moles taking earth-worms from the hand 

 immediately after being captured have been related to me, 

 and incidents of a like import are recorded in " Some Obser- 

 vations on the Natural History and Habits of the Mole," 

 by the Kev. James Grierson, M.D., minister of Cockpen 

 (" Mem. Wern. Soc./' iv., p. 218), published in 1822. 



In August last, while searching for land-shells in a birch 

 plantation, a strange throbbing sound a kind of thurr thurr, 



