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mouse and other noxious animals. The 

 Mole is also accused of carrying off quan- 

 tities of young corn to form its nest, llenci 

 every means are devised to capture and de 

 stroy it, and men gain a livelihood exclu' 

 sively by this occupation. Some naturalists, 

 however, plead that the injury which it 

 perpetrates is slight, and that it is more 

 than counterbalanced by the benefit which 

 it produces by turning up and lightening the 

 soil, and especially by its immense destruc- 

 tion of earth-worms, and many other noxious 

 animals which inhabit the superficial laj'er 

 of the ground, and occasion great injury to 

 the roots of grass, corn, and many other 

 plants. The soundest practical conclusion 

 lies probably in the mean of these opinions ; 

 and the enlightened agriculturist, while he 

 takes prompt measures to prevent the undue 

 increase of the Mole, would do well to reflect 

 on the disadvantages which might follow 

 its total extermination." Brande's Diet, oj 

 Science. 



From a mass of interesting information 

 relative to the habits of this animal, in Mr. 

 Bell's History of British Quadrupeds, we 

 select the following : " Every one is aware 

 of the fact that the Mole burrows for its 

 food, that its nest is formed under ground, 

 that a larger hillock than the rest is raised 

 for the reception of its young ; but it is not 

 so generally known that its subterranean 

 excavations are of the most distinct and de- 

 terminate character ; that there are perma- 

 nent passages or high roads for its ordinary 

 travels from one part of its domain to an- 

 other ; that into these roads open the exca- 

 vations in which it follows its daily labour 

 in search of food ; that its fortress the 

 house in which it resides from the autumn 

 to the spring is of a complex and most 

 ingenious structure, and that this domicile 

 is always a distinct and even remote build- 

 ing from that in which the nest is formed." 

 After stating that we are principally in- 

 debted to the researches of Henri le Court, a 

 French gentleman who devoted many years 

 to the study of the habits, &c. of the Mole, 

 he thus proceeds : " The district or domain 

 to which an individual Mole confines him- 

 self may be termed its encampment. Within 

 its limits, or at least in immediate commu- 

 nication with the district, all the labours of 

 the animal are pursued. It consists of the 

 habitation or fortress, from which extends 

 the high road by which the animal reaches 

 the opposite extremity of the encampment, 

 and of various galleries or excavations 

 opening into this rood, which it is continu- 

 ally extending in search of food, and which 

 constitute, in fact, its hunting-ground. The 

 fortress is formed under a large hillock, 

 which is always raised in a situation of 

 safety and protection ; either under a bank, 

 against the foundation of a wall, at the root 

 of a tree, or in some similar locality. The 

 earth, of which the dome covering this 

 curious habitation is composed, is rendered 

 exceedingly strong and solid, by being 

 pressed and beaten by the Mole in forming 

 it. It contains a circular gallery within 

 the base, which communicates with a smaller 

 one above by five nearly 'equi-distant pas- 



sages ; and the domicile or chamber is placed 

 within the lower and beneath the upper 

 circular gallery, to which last it has access 

 by three similar passages. From the chamber 

 extends another road, the direction of which 

 is at first downwards for several inches ; it 

 then rises again to open into the high road 

 of the encampment. From the external 

 circular gallery open about nine other pas- 

 sages, the orifices of which are never formed 

 opposite to those which connect the outer 

 with the inner and upper gallery : these ex- 

 tend to a greater or less distance, and return, 

 each taking an irregular semicircular route, 

 and opening into the high road at various dis- 

 tances from the fortress. Such is a very hasty 

 description of this most singular structure ; 

 and nothing surely can be imagined more 

 admirably calculated to ensure the security 

 or the retreat of the inhabitant than such 

 an arrangement of internal routes of com- 

 munication as this. The chamber commu- 

 nicating beneath directly with the road, 

 and above with the upper gallery, this 

 with the lower by five passages, and the 

 latter again with the road by no less than 

 nine, exhibit altogether a complication of 

 architecture, which may rival the more ce- 

 lebrated erections of the Beaver." "The 

 nest is always distinct, and frequently re- 

 mote from the fortress, and is usually, but 

 not always, covered by a hillock ; which, 

 when it exists, is much larger than an ordi- 

 nary mole-hill. It is formed simply by 

 excavating and enlarging the point of in- 

 tersection of three or four passages. The 

 bed of the nest is composed of a mass of 

 herbage, grass, roots, or leaves : in one which 

 was examined by Geoffrey and Le Court, 

 no less than two hundred and four blades of 

 young wheat were counted. This, however, 

 can scarcely be considered as an ordinary 

 occurrence, as they generally prefer dry 

 and soft substances. The period of gesta- 

 tion is supposed to be about two months or 

 upwards : and the young are brought forth 

 in April, sometimes earlier, at others later, 

 according to the season : indeed, young 

 Moles have been found at all times from the 

 beginning of April till August, which has 

 led some persons to believe that there are 

 more than one brood in the year. There 

 are generally four or five, sometimes as few 

 as three, rarely six." 



"That Moles were intended to be bene- 

 ficial to mankind," observes Mr. Jesse, 



there can, I think, be no doubt. I have 

 been assured that where old Mole-hills are 

 most abundant on sheep pastures, the latter 

 animal is generally in a healthy state, as it 

 Teeds on the wild thyme, and other salu- 

 brious herbs, which grow on these heaps of 

 earth. Where these have been levelled and 

 cleared away, sheep are not found to thrive 

 as well as they did previously. This fact 

 was confirmed to me by the Ettrick Shep- 

 icrd, who deprecated the practice of re- 

 moving Mole-hills. On the fine and exten- 

 sive pastures in Leicestershire, where old 

 Mole-hills are extremely abundant, sheep 

 ;hrive well, and are generally healthy : and , 

 [ have been assured that after the mole-hills j 

 lad been destroyed in a park which belonged 



