OFFENSIVE ODOUR OF THE MOLE. 147 



at the nauseous smell of the flesh of this creature. 

 Foxes eat moles, and will at times dig out the traps 

 containing them. The brown owl, too, feeds on 

 them, when it can meet with them outside of their 

 runs, hunting after dew- worms : and probably the 

 smaller vermin do the same ; but the cat and the 

 dog turn from them with manifest aversion as food, 

 though they will hunt and kill them as objects of 

 the chase. 



These animals, we might suppose, while in their 

 subterranean dwellings, would be secure from all 

 injury by such as generally pursue their prey upon 

 the surface of the earth ; but I have several times 

 known the weasel caught in the mole-traps, making 

 it manifest that it hunts after the mole for its food, 

 and in doing so, according to our comprehensions, 

 must encounter infinite danger from suffocation ; 

 but it is more probable that so active a creature as 

 the weasel is endowed with powers to accomplish 

 its object with impunity, which we are not ac- 

 quainted with. 



DURING the course of a life passed much in the 

 country, and perambulating the woods, the hedges, 

 and the fields, I have contracted almost insensibly 

 an acquaintance with the creatures that frequent 

 them. Some have engaged my attention by their 

 actions and manners ; others have interested me by 

 their innocency, and the harmlessness of their lives : 

 and, perhaps, there is some little partial bearing 



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