100 WOODLAND CREATURES 



may travel half the night before he meets with 

 any luck. 



On one occasion, when following the track of 

 a fox, I came to a place where it was evident that 

 he had stopped short and, after a pause, stepped 

 forward slowly and cautiously. The last foot- 

 prints were pressed deep into the snow, and it 

 was evident that he had sprung forward, for there 

 was a clear space of a yard and a half, beyond 

 which was a trampled circle of snow and red earth. 

 On one side were two or three freshly raised mole- 

 hills, showing dark against the surrounding white- 

 ness. Next was another trampled and pressed 

 circle of snow, in the midst of which lay the frozen 

 carcass of a mole. A careful examination of 

 the spot left no doubt as to what had happened. 

 The fox had been jogging alone when he had 

 noticed the snow heave, and, promptly stopping, 

 had waited and watched the mole raising its new 

 hillock, until the animal at last pushed its way 

 through the soft earth and came out on the surface, 

 when he sprang upon it, and killed it with a single 

 nip. Having killed it, he found it far from his 

 taste, so tossed it about two or three times, dropped 

 it on the snow, rolled on it, and went on about 

 his business. 



Moles are greatly disliked by the majority of 

 flesh-eating animals and birds, which, unless pressed 

 by hunger, invariably refuse them, the only 

 exception I know of being the buzzard, which 

 makes moles quite a considerable item in the 

 rations of its young. It has always been a mystery 



