WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



little weasel overcome a mole ? I have my 

 doubts 1 At any rate the mole is not very good 

 to eat, and I think the weasel would probably 

 consider it more discreet to avoid such un- 

 savoury prey. Polecats, ferrets, stoats, and 

 owls all refuse to touch a mole. Perhaps it is 

 the peculiar smell they do not like ; at any rate, 

 the fact that foxes will kill moles, roll on the 

 bodies, and then leave them uneaten, seems 

 to point to this. I was once following the trail 

 a fox had left in the snow during his previous 

 night's wanderings, and, after following the long 

 straight line of tracks which told how he had 

 been trotting steadily onwards, I came to more 

 irregular foot-marks. Plainly written in the 

 snow plainly, that is, for those who understand 

 what is written in pad-mark and trail -was the 

 story of how seeing something moving he had 

 paused, then stepped forward stealthily towards 

 the spot where a mole had been heaving near 

 the surface. The raw red earth made a vivid 

 stain on the clean snow. It was the last soil that 

 that mole ever threw up, for as it came close 

 to the top of the ground the fox had sprung, 

 killed it by a skilful nip, dropped the poor little 

 carcass, sniffed it disdainfully, rolled on it, 

 and gone on about his night's hunting. There 

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