128 WILD LIFE AT HOME. 



Moles are numerous in most parts of the 

 country, but are not often seen on account of their 

 almost exclusively subterranean habits. . They are 

 for their size probably the strongest, most savage, 

 and ferocious animals on the face of the whole 

 earth, and it is appalling to think what terrible 

 monsters for mischief they would have been if 

 created as large as elephants. If a mole be al- 

 lowed to bury his head arid fore-feet beneath the 

 ground, it has been proved that his strength is so 

 enormous that he can drag a lump of lead after 

 him, bulk for bulk, as large as himself. An inge- 

 nious but rather cruel experimenter in the North 

 of England once allowed one to hang a dog which 

 he wished to destroy, by tying one end of a strong- 

 piece of string to its hind-legs, and placing the other 

 in a running noose round the poor dog's neck. 



I do not think that moles catch many worms 

 whilst they are at work boring their tunnels, for 

 the least vibratory movement in the earth sets 

 every worm near at hand to instant flight, as any- 

 one may prove by the following simple experi- 

 ment : Insert an ordinary three or four-pronged 

 garden fork in the ground, and then strike the 

 shaft with the hand so as to set up a slight 

 quivering in the earth. This motion is undoubtedly 

 similar to that which is produced by a burrowing 

 mole, for every worm near at hand will imme- 

 diately scamper to the surface in a great state 

 of alarm. 



