40 FEBRUARY. 



Their instinct, it is very probable, will preserve 



them from letting off water which would drown 



them, and the approach to which they must 



perceive by the moisture of the soil. 



A Mole-catcher, Miss Mitford has said, " is of 



the earth earthy ;" but he is of the green fields, 



of the solitary woodlands. We observe him, 



especially in the spring and the autumn, a 



silent and picturesque object, poring under 



hedges and along the skirts of the forest, or 



the margin of a stream, for traces of 



The little black-a-moc-r pioneer 

 Grubbing his way in darkness drear. 



We have met him in copses and hazel-shaded 

 lanes, cutting springs for his traps, and we not 

 only love him, and look upon him as one of the 

 legitimate objects of rural scenery, but have 

 often found him a quiet but shrewd observer of 

 nature, and capable of enriching us with many 

 fragments of knowledge. In the winter by his 

 fire he makes his traps. These are very simple 

 machines, which almost any one may construct. 

 We have made and set many a one ourselves, 

 and have been up by the earliest dawn of day 

 to discover their success. Many moles may be 

 caught in one place, if the trap be judiciously 

 set in a main burrow. It is better near a hedge, 

 or in a plantation, than in the middle of a field, 

 where it is liable to be disturbed by cattle. 



