274 NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Occasional removals Ferocious disposition. 



ter, or the accidental demolition of their man- 

 sions. 



Moles are principally found in grounds where 

 the soil is loose and soft, and affording the greatest 

 quantity of worms and insects. During the sum- 

 mer they descend to the low hillocks and flat 

 land ; and particularly make choice of meadows 

 for the place of their residence. If the weather 

 continue long dry, they remove to the banks of 

 rivers, the borders of ditches, or some place con- 

 tiguous to hedges. They exhibit a considerable 

 degree of art in skinning worms, which they 

 always do before they eat them; but in search- 

 ing for these by night they are themselves fre- 

 quently attacked and devoured by owls. 



When moles are first taken, either by digging 

 or otherwise, they utter a shrill cry, and prepare 

 for their defence by exerting the strength of 

 their claws and teeth. They are said to be very 

 ferocious animals; and however contented they 

 may be together underground, yet when above 

 the surface they will sometimes tear and eat one 

 another. In a glass case, in which a mole, a 

 toad, and a viper were inclosed, the mole has 

 been known to kill the other two, and to devour 

 a considerable part of each. 



In the third volume of the Linnaean Transac- 

 tions, the following curious fact is related by Mr. 

 Bruce. " On visiting the Loch of Clunie, which 

 I often did, I observed in it a small island at the 



