246 INSECTIVORA. 



the openings can be distinguished just above the fore- 

 feet ; the long naked snout is furnished with a few black 

 whiskers, and the one inch tail has a scanty covering of 

 bushy hair, which is most abundant at the tip. The fur 

 on the body is short and very fine and silky, the color 

 generally being a peculiar shade of lustrous brownish 

 grey that has become very popular with fur wearers. 



Moles are entirely insectivorous and usually feed early 

 in the morning and again in the evening, boring long 

 tunnels in the ground in pursuit of their prey. Their 

 nests are made by throwing up the earth in hillocks with 

 their fore feet, which are very large and furnished with 

 five strong, sharp claws that turn outward. In some 

 parts of England Mole catching is a regular business; 

 they are sometimes captured with spring traps, but can 

 be easily taken, before eight in the morning or after six 

 o'clock in the evening, by placing a spade a few inches 

 below where they are working and catching them with 

 the hand ; as the long passages they make under the earth 

 are clearly visible on the surface this is easily accom- 

 plished. In severe frosts the moles sometimes seek shelter 

 in the hedges, but they never hibernate, but work all 

 through the winter. The inconvenience they cause by 

 spoiling walks and uprooting plants, is more than com- 

 pensated by the service they render in draining the sub- 

 soil of meadows, and in destroying the larvae of insects 

 that would become a pest. 



Moles have well developed senses of smell and hearing 

 and are good swimmers, and are found in the hill country 

 as well as on the bottom lands. 



Bell, in his History of British Quadrupeds, gives an 

 interesting description of the way in which each Mole 

 confines itself to its own district or encampment. He 

 says : " Within its limits, or at least in immediate commu- 

 nication with this district, all the labors 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 road, 

 which it is continually extending in search of food, and 

 which constitute, in fact, its hunting-ground. The fort- 

 ress is formed under a large hillock, which is always 



