92 Wild Life in Wales 



travelled over-land. Whether or not a pair arrived in 

 company it was impossible to say, as of course they were 

 never seen ; but from the frequency with which the hillocks 

 began to be thrown up I very soon suspected that more 

 than one must be at work, and this was later found to be 

 the case. I think it may be taken as almost certain that 

 they did come together, and that they worked in company 

 throughout the winter. The same line of hillocks was 

 followed, perhaps because the old workings may not have 

 become quite filled in, and had been found and taken 

 advantage of. The same regularity in the work was 

 observed, except that the new hills appeared about twice as 

 fast as the old ones, and by the middle of November the 

 whole depression was encircled by a regular line of forts. 

 A straight line of hillocks was then drawn to near the centre, 

 after which they began to spread about irregularly. In 

 March, traps were again set, and two Moles, male and 

 female, were killed, evidently the sole occupants of the place, 

 as hill-making again ceased. This female would shortly 

 have been the mother of three little ones. 



The peculiar form of the Mole, and its admirable adapta- 

 tion to the subterranean life it leads, can never fail to 

 interest the young naturalist, but so much has already been 

 written elsewhere on that head that the subject, attractive 

 though it be, must be passed over here. Suffice it to say 

 that our Mole is not blind, though some near relatives, not 

 natives of this country, are so, and that Shakespeare's 

 admonition to "tread softly that the blind mole may not 

 hear a footfall," seems obviously intended to lay stress on 

 the acute sense of hearing possessed by the animal, rather 

 than on its comparative deficiency in the other direction. 

 Its eyes being of little use to it underground have become 

 almost atrophied ; but with the decline in the power of 

 vision, the organs of smelling and hearing have become 

 more keenly developed, and it is upon these latter senses 

 that the Mole chiefly relies to bring it to its prey, or to 

 keep it out of the way of danger. 



Earth-worms form the staple of its diet, but in addition 

 to these, many insects, in all stages of their development, 



