No. IV. THE MOLE. 



ONE of the most useful, and, at the same time, 

 one of the least appreciated of the whole 

 animal creation, is found in the Mole (Talpa Europ&a], 

 which, in spite of the inestimable benefit it confers 

 upon agriculturists, is ranked by them as one of 

 their worst enemies, and persecuted accordingly. 



We can hardly pass through a meadow in many 

 parts of the country without noticing a number of 

 upright sticks planted in various parts of the field, 

 to many ot which is suspended a mole which has 

 been captured and slain by one of the professional 

 trappers employed by the farmer. Now, if the 

 farmer had taken the trouble to look below the 

 surface, and traced the mole through its day's work, 

 he would have found that, instead of damaging his 

 fields and ruining his crops, the animal was in reality 

 rendering him services which could hardly be procured 

 for money, and that instead of untiring persecution 

 and ruthless extermination, it ought to be protected 

 and encouraged to the utmost of his power. 



But, as with many other almost equally useful 

 creatures, so it is with the mole, which, placed in 

 the category of ' vermin,' falls under the ban of the 

 farmer, and pays with its life the penalty of human 

 ignorance. 



To us who inhabit the upper world, it seems a 

 strange and comiortless life, this of the mole, spent 

 in its cold, dark tunnels beneath the earth. \Ve can 



