Its appetite is appalling." 



THE COMMON MOLE 



T 



[HE Common Mole is one of 

 the most wonderful animals 

 alive. If you stroke it from 

 head to tail it is all right, 

 and if you reverse the pro- 

 cess and stroke it from 

 tail to head it is equally so, 

 because upon occasion it 

 has to progress both ways in its bur- 

 rows, and its fur is specially adapted to 

 the creature's mode of existence. Moult- 

 ing, or casting, of the old coat appears 

 to take place from the head and tail in 

 equal proportions, and in June a saddle 

 of old fur may frequently be seen still 

 clinging, as shown in our photogravure, 

 to the back of the animal. 



The strength of a Mole is enormous, 

 and, as might be expected in a creature 

 with such a lavish expenditure of energy, 

 its appetite is appalling. It can con- 

 sume its own weight of food in twenty- 

 four hours, and cannot in the adult 



stage live for more than twelve without 

 sustenance. 



A great deal of misapprehension seems 

 to exist in regard to the life and habits 

 of this quadruped. For instance, many 

 people imagine that when a Mole is 

 engaged in throwing up a hillock of 

 earth it is working after worms. If this 

 were its only method of catching them 

 starvation would overtake the unfortu- 

 nate beast in a week. Worms are easily 

 scared, and the majority of them make 

 haste, as every working gardener knows, 

 to leave earth where any kind of vibra- 

 tory disturbance is taking place. I 

 have frequently seen them hurry to the 

 surface where a Mole has been working, 

 and birds aware of this fact wait and 

 devour them. 



When burrows have been excavated. 

 Moles make periodical rounds of them 

 in order to pick up worms, beetles, and 

 other creatures that may have dropped 



