26 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



more passages intersect each other, so that in case of alarm, the 

 mother and young may escape in the direction which seems far- 

 thest removed from danger. This nursery is almost invariably 

 placed at some distance from the fortress. 



About the middle of June, or commencement of July, the 

 Moles begin to fall in love, and are as furious in their attach- 

 ments as in all other' phases of their nature. At that time, two 

 male moles can not meet without a mortal jealousy, and they 

 straightway begin to fight, scratching, tearing, and biting with 

 such insane fury, that they seem to be unconscious of every thing 

 but the heat of battle. Not content with fighting in their bur- 

 rows, they often emerge into the open air, and may then be 

 caught without the least difficulty. A few days before writing 

 this account, I heard that a pair of Moles were thus taken in the 

 fields near Erith, and one of my friends made a similar capture 

 on Shooter's Hill. 



Indeed, the whole life of the Mole is one of fury, and he eats 

 like a starving tiger, tearing and rending his prey with claws and 

 teeth, and crunching audibly the body of the worm between the 

 sharp points. Some writers say that the Mole eats snails and 

 other molluscs, but I am disposed to doubt that assertion. I 

 have kept several Moles, and never saw them eat any thing but 

 worms. They even rejected the julus millipede, kicking it aside 

 with utter contempt. 



It is also asserted that the Mole skins the worm before he eats 

 it, "stripping the skin from end to end, and squeezing out the 

 contents of the body." To prove a negative is proverbially a dif- 

 ficult task, and therefore I will not venture to say that the Mole 

 does not trouble himself about stripping off the skin of the worm. 

 I do not see how it could do so, for even with the assistance of 

 knives, scissors and forceps, such a task presents many difficul- 

 ties, and how the Mole is to succeed in such an undertaking with 

 no tools but his teeth and claws, I can not comprehend. No 

 Mole that I have ever seen, gave the slightest indication of skin- 

 ning or emptying the w r orm, but proceeded without the least cer- 

 emony to devour its prey, and then looked out for another victim. 



It is hardly possible to conceive, and quite impossible to de- 

 scribe the fury with which the Mole eats. It hunches its back 

 in a most curious manner, retracts the head between the shoul- 

 ders, and uses its fore paws to assist it in pushing the worm into 

 its jaws. In this respect there is a singular resemblance between 



