220 THE COMMON MOLE. 



informed me, that he caught in one hole, and 

 by a single trap, no fewer than twenty-five in the 

 course of three weeks. 



The animals soon afterwards begin to prepare 

 the habitation for their offspring. This is always 

 formed in a dry situation, out of the reach of inun- 

 dations, and is usually sheltered by a hedge or 

 bush. It is a kind of arched apartment, from a foot 

 to a foot and half or two feet in diameter at the 

 bottom, having the sides and roof well and firmly 

 compacted. The nest is made of leaves and grass. 

 It is sometimes so large that the materials would 

 fill a gallon measure, and occasionally so small that 

 they scarcely cover the ground. The hillock, un- 

 der which this nest is deposited, is easily distin- 

 guishable, by its being generally five or six times 

 as large as any of the rest. Connected with the 

 apartment in which the young Moles are laid, there 

 are generally several galleries, that extend to the 

 distance of some feet, like rays from a centre. Into 

 these the mother makes her excursions for food, to 

 supply herself and her offspring. And it is said 

 that the instant she hears her habitation attacked by 

 the mole-catcher from above, she takes to one of 

 the burrows; and if the litter have attained suffi- 

 cient strength to walk, the dam and her brood ge- 

 nerally make good their retreat. The young, 

 which are usually from three to five in number, are 

 perfectly naked when first produced ; an$ at that 

 time they are said to have much the appearance of 



young 



