THE BOLT RUN 



and use. The nest, which completely fills the nest cavity, is 

 a ball of grass or leaves, or a mixture of both. I have found 

 a nest made entirely of dead beech leaves, others entirely of 

 dead oak leaves, and when it is remembered that this 

 material must all be brought in by the mouth the amount of 

 labour required can be appreciated. When the nest is taken 

 out bodily, it has to be unwound (if made of grass) to find 

 the centre. There is never a hole apparent, and not only is 

 the nest always found closed when the young are within, but 

 in all cases, even when old and long deserted. When dry 

 grass is not obtainable fresh green grass is used, which soon 

 withers and gets dry with the heat of the mole's body. 

 When a nest containing young is found it is invariably 

 infested with fleas and mites. 



" Nearly every fortress has a bolt run, by which the mole 

 can escape when surprised in the nest. This run leads down- 

 wards from the bottom of the nest, and then turns upward 

 and out of the fortress by a tunnel of its own, and is very 

 rarely connected with any of the other numerous exits of 

 the fortress. The only fortresses that I have seen without 

 the bolt run have been on marshy land, where such a tunnel 

 would have led to water." 



Sometimes there is a tunnel which sinks almost straight 

 down into the ground under the nest for several feet , some 

 people believe that it is intended for a well which the mole 

 digs in order to have a supply of drinking water on the 

 premises at all times, while others think it is a larder in 

 which a supply of paralysed worms is kept at hand; but 

 there appears to be very little reason to suppose that it is 

 anything more than a badly planned bolt run which the 

 mole abandoned on finding out that he had made a mistake 

 in his reckoning. 



A mole never uses the same nest for more than one season, 

 c 37 



