AN OCTOBER DIARY. 2l9 



at indefinite depths, but sleep ; being in March or early 

 in April " thin as snakes," instead of " sleek as a mole.'* 



But let us consider, for a moment, the star-nosed moles 

 of the Adirondack region. Dr. Merriam says they sink 

 below the frost line and there pursue earth-worms, com- 

 ing nearer the surface after the snow is three to five 

 feet deep. Now, is it not probable that, at such a depth 

 and under such circumstances, there would be so little 

 atmosphere that the mole could not retain the activity 

 necessary to follow earth-worms? I believe so, and am 

 forced to conclude that the activity claimed for them, 

 under such circumstances, is an assumption. It would 

 be very strange if this mammal should in all respects 

 be the same in its habits, in two regions so different as 

 the Adirondacks and Central New Jersey ; but that it 

 is a difference as wide as Dr. Merriam claims, I doubt. 

 Who is in error, let the world decide; but in my mead- 

 ows star-nosed moles show no disposition to live during 

 winter in the manner described by my friend. 



The common mole is justly hated by the farmers, nor 

 do I wonder at it. How persistently they pass through 

 a "hill" of sweet potatoes or watermelons, must be seen 

 to be realized. I cannot bring these farmer folk to be- 

 lieve that they are not after the seed or plant they have 

 destroyed. The plant is destroyed, and the mole was 

 the destroyer. This is enough ; these moles are vege- 

 tarians certainly, so my neighbors insist, and set me 

 down as a crank. Nevertheless, I am right. Probably, 

 in many cases, the loosening of the soil, in planting, at- 

 tracts the prey of the mole, the earth-worm ; but oftener 

 the whole matter is accidental, the earth-worms and moles 



