10 NATURAL HISTORY. 



It is a good swimmer, and can pass from bank to bank, or 

 from the shore to an island, and when the fields are inun- 

 dated by floods it can save itself by swimming. 



The construction of the mole's habitation is very singular 

 and interesting. Each mole has its own habitation and 

 hunting ground, and will not permit strangers to trespass 

 upon its preserves, which it guards, not by " man-traps and 

 spring-guns," but by its own claws and teeth. 



In order to construct a fortress, the mole selects a secure 

 place, as the foot of a tree, or the side of a high bank. 11 

 then throws up a heap of earth, which it presses firmly 1o- 

 gcther, as within this mound its fortress has to be made. It 

 commences by running a circular gallery near the summit cf 

 the mound, and another larger one near the bottom. These 

 two galleries it connects by five descending passages. In the 

 very centre of the mound, and at the level of the ground, it 

 now digs a circular hole, which it connects with the upper 

 gallery by three ascending passages. Lastly, it makes a 

 number of passages from the lower gallery, and connects the 

 circular chamber with the largest of them, or high road, by a 

 passage that first bends downwards, and then rises into the 

 high road a little outside the large gallery. In the circular 

 chamber the mole sleeps, and can escape into the high road 

 either by the upper gallery or by the road from the bottom 

 of its dormitory. 



Moles vary in colour, the usual tint being a very deep brown, 

 almost black, but they have been seen of an orange colour, 

 and a white variety is not uncommon. Those who have 

 watched its habits state that it alternately works and rests at 

 intervals of three hours. There are several moles known, the 

 Shrew Mole, the Changeable Mole, the Cape Mole and the 

 tStar-nosed Mole, are the most conspicuous. 



M( l.K KILL. 



