Star-nosed Mole 
bask in it at mid-day, even those that are most active at night 
like their sun-bath at noon. 
But these little ‘‘ ground-dwellers” actually appear to dislike 
the touch of the sun from the manner in which they avoid it. 
They can know little more of the grass and flowers than the 
moist touch of the colourless root fibres that fringe the ceilings 
of their tunnels and the first tender shoots of the water-plants 
they encounter beneath the ice months before winter shows 
signs of breaking above ground. 
Rare water-beetles and the larve of insects, which famous 
entomologists would gladly give years of patient study to learn 
more about, must be every-day common-place matters to the 
mole, but whether his ‘‘dim-eyed understanding” holds any 
definite image of the things he so diligently searches for or not is 
never to be known. Does he really distinguish between the 
various kinds, | wonder, more than their taste and the crunch of theif 
crisp wing covers between his teeth? I feel certain, that while he is 
digging away earnestly down in the dark for his dinner, such dull 
thought as he has is centred on the prospects of a lucky catch, 
and naturally certain species of fat and well-flavoured grubs would 
appeal more strongly to his appetite than others. 
By the law of just compensation, his immense appetite and the 
matter of eating, which occupies so very much of his time, ought 
rightly to yield him a great deal ef pleasure, there seems so little 
else for him to enjoy. 
