240 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



predicted that he will never think of describing it as 

 an " awkward, sluggish animal." 



The common Mole (Talpa Europcea) is almost as 

 common as the worms on which it preys. It is a 

 wonderfully powerful animal, and as voracious and 

 ferocious as it is powerful. Instances are on record 

 of fierce and deadly battles between two males of this 

 species, in which the life of one of the, combatants was 

 sacrificed and his body partly devoured by the victor. 

 The mole has so powerful a scent that dogs have often 

 been known to " wind " it at a great distance, when its 

 " run " was very near the surface ; on East Harting 

 Down we have more than once seen moles hunted and, 

 caught in this way by a spaniel. We have somewhere 

 seen it stated that the mole was once popularly known 

 as "the little gentleman in black velvet"; this phrase 

 had a political significance at the time, but the descrip- 

 tion is by no means inappropriate ; we have, however, 

 seen more than one individual of the species to which 

 it would not apply. We have never met with the 

 orange-coloured specimens which the professional 

 mole catcher so often promised to show us, but one 

 was once caught in the park, the fur of which was of 

 a light tawny shade on the upper surface, and gradually 

 deepened to a reddish buff on the under side ; another 

 which we saw, was of a uniform dingy cream colour. 



Another little animal, not much unlike the mole in 

 its appearance and some of its habits, is the Shrew 

 (Corsira vulgaris). Its food consists of insects, larvae, 

 and occasionally earth-worms, and, that it is not un- 

 common with us may be inferred from the number of 

 dead specimens we find every autumn on the ground 

 where there is nothing to conceal them. It gives out 

 such a rank unpleasant odour that, although a cat will 

 readily kill it, we have never heard of a cat eating one. 

 This odour is not unlike a compound of garlic and 

 musk, and may, not improbably, have given rise to 

 the popular belief that the shrew is venomous. Not 



