NOTABLE DIGGERS 



the ground with surprising ease. As a rule it works quite 

 close to the surface so near, indeed, when tunnelling 

 through loose soil, that the earth over the burrows is 

 elevated into ridges, by means of which, as well as by the 

 actual movement of the ground, the animal's course can be 

 traced without difficulty. A very considerable part of its 

 existence is spent in making these burrows, for the mole not 

 only excavates a dwelling underground, but hunts there day 

 by day for its food, and as it is an extraordinarily voracious 

 little creature you will readily understand that its energy in 

 burrowing is very great. In a single night it often digs a 

 passage many yards in length a tremendous achievement 

 for so small an animal. 



As the mole advances in his hunting grounds, he disposes 

 of the earth he has scooped out by throwing it up at 

 intervals upon the surface of the ground, thus making those 

 little hillocks which are so well known to everybody as 

 " mole-hills."" It is not in these small mole-hills that the 

 animal dwells ; his habitation, or " fortress," as it is called, is 

 a far larger structure, which usually measures a foot or more 

 in height and three feet in diameter. Considering how 

 extremely common moles are, it appears strange that few 

 people are at all familiar with their habits ; but then we 

 must bear in mind that its subterranean life makes this 

 a very difficult creature to observe. At the same time, had 

 it been a very rare animal, and only met with very occasion- 

 ally, it would probably have received far more attention ; for 

 those who concern themselves to observe what lies at their 

 feet during a country ramble are few, and almost the only 

 people who take any interest in this remarkable animal are 

 the farmers whose land it disfigures with piled-up heaps of 

 earth, and the men they employ to free their property from 

 the pest. Both classes, naturally enough, regard the mole as 



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