THE MOLE. <275 



A curious fact. 



distance of a hundred and eighty yards from the 

 nearest land, to be so upon the ice. Upon the 

 island, Lord Airly, the proprietor, has a castle 

 and a small shrubbery. 1 frequently remarked 

 the appearance of fresh mole-casts or hills. I for 

 some time took it to be the water-mouse; and 

 one day asked the gardener if it were so. No, 

 he said, it was the mole; and that he had caught 

 one or two lately. Five or six years ago lie 

 caught two in traps; and for two years after this 

 he had observed none. But about four years 

 ago, coming ashore one summer's evening in the 

 dusk, he and Lord Airly's butler saw, at a short 

 distance, upon the smooth water, some animals 

 paddling to,, and not far distant from the island. 

 They soon closed with this feeble passenger: and 

 found it to be a common mole ; led by a most 

 astonishing instinct, from the nearest point of 

 land (the Castle-hill), to take possession of this 

 desert island. It had been, at the time of my 

 visit, for the space of two years quite free from 

 any subterraneous inhabitant; but the mole has 

 for more than a year past, made its appearance 

 again, and its operations I have since been wit- 

 ness to." The depth of water in the lake is from 

 six to ten, fifteen, and, in some parts, thirty or 

 forty feet, all round the island. 



The mischief occasioned by these little animals 



in fields and gardens is almost incredible. M. de 



Buffon, in the year 1740, planted about sixteen 



acres of land with acorns, the greater part of 



2 M 2 



