STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



burrows in such admirably straight hnes is not an easy ])roblem, 

 because it is always in black darkness, and we know of nothing 

 which can act as a guide to the animal. As for ourselves and 

 other eye-possessing animals, to walk in a straight line with 

 closed eyelids is almost an impossibility, and every swimmer 

 knows the difficulty of keeping a straight course under water, 

 even with the use of his eyes. 



The ordinary mole-hills, which are so plentiful in our fields, 

 present nothing particularly worthy of notice. They are the 

 shafts through which the quadrupedal miner ejects the materials 

 which it has scooped out, as it drives its many tunnels through 

 the soil, and if they be carefully opened after the rain has 

 consolidated the heap of loose material, nothing more will be 

 discovered than a simple hole leading into the tunnel. But let 

 us strike into one of the large tunnels, as any mole-catcher will 

 teach up, and follow it up until we come to the real abode ol 

 the animal. 



A section of this extraordinary habitation is given in the 

 illustration. The hill under which this domicile is hidden is of 

 considerable size, but is not very conspicuous, because it is 

 always placed under the shelter of a tree, a shrub, or a suitable 

 bank, and would not be discovered but by a practised eye. The 

 subterraneous abode within the hillock is so remarkable that it 

 involuntarily reminds the observer of the well-known maze, with 

 which tlie earliest years of youth have been puzzled throughout 

 many successive generations. 



The central apartment, or keep, if we so term it, is a nearly 

 spherical chamber, the roof of which is nearly on a level witli 

 the earth around the hill, and therefore situated at a considerable 

 depth from the apex of the heap. Around this keep are driven 

 two circular passages, or galleries, one just level with the ceiling 

 and the other at some height above. The upper circle is much 

 smaller than the lower. Five short descending passages connect 

 the galleries with each other, but the only entrance into the 

 keep is from the upper gallery, out of which three passages lead 

 into the ceiling of the keep. It will be seen, therefore, that 

 when a Mole enters th<5 house from one of his tunnels, he hiis 



