218 THE COMMON MOLl. 



paws, gradually raises out of its way the mould 

 which incommodes it. To this process is owing those 

 small hillocks so common in our fields. After thus 

 getting rid of the earth, the animal proceeds in its 

 labour as before; and a person may easily discover 

 how many Moles are contained in a certain space 

 of ground, by counting the newly raised mole- 

 hills which have no connexion with each other. 

 The hills made by a single Mole are often from 

 three to nine or ten in number, according to the 

 age, strength, or sex of the animal. Those of the 

 males are generally the largest and most numerous 

 of any. If the gallery happen, by any chance, to 

 be stopped up or interrupted, the Mole seldom 

 fails to re-establish the communication, by forming 

 a vault of earth, or a kind of oblong mole-hill, to 

 reunite the extremities. 



These animals sometimes do incredible damage 

 in gardens and meadows. M. de Buffon informs us, 

 that, of the acorns which he planted on sixteen 

 acres of land, the greater part of them were, in a 

 very short time, carried away by the Moles. He 

 consequently set his servants to work, and in less 

 than three weeks they destroyed thirteen hundred 

 of them. 



Moles are able to swim over brooks and narrow 

 streams of water, without any difficulty; and they 

 are often observed by the mole-catchers in the act 

 of crossing them. A person who has paid attention 

 to these animals for many years, informs me, that 



he 



