Sncklers. 9707 



quite mad, turning rapidly round and round, and sniffing at the blood- 

 stains on the gravel. Another similar attack then took place ; but the 

 scene now became too painful, and the poor frog was put out of pain 

 by a blow on the head. The body, still moving convulsively, was 

 thrown close to the murderer, who now appeared to be possessed of a 

 devil ; he literally danced round his victim, worrying and biting at the 

 skin of the belly until he tore it open, when he feasted sumptuously on 

 the entrails. He afterwards ate several smaller frogs, but refused to 

 touch a small toad which was offered him one day ; he smelled at it, 

 but turned up his nose, as if in disdain. 



After this the mole was fed principally on raw meat, dead birds, &c., 

 and the quantity of food which he would eat in one day was astonishing, 

 more than his own weight, I am sure. During the first three days he 

 disposed of about three or four dozen earthworms, the large frog already 

 mentioned, a quantity of raw beef, the body of one turkey-pout and 

 part of a second, and one or two black slugs. If the piece of meat 

 was not too large he often buried it, and this was always done in the 

 same manner : he dragged the fragment to his heap of soil, then dived 

 under ground at one side, turned himself, thrust out his head, and 

 pulled down the food after him. When he fed above ground his 

 attitude was strikingly unlike the usual representations of moles in 

 books; his head was drawn back, his back arched and his hands or 

 fore paws turned inwards and downwards to hold down the fragment, 

 at which he tore with his little sharp teeth. Like the celebrated " fat 

 boy " in ' Pickwick,' he sometimes fell asleep over his food, and woke 

 with renewed appetite : generally, however, he retired under ground 

 to sleep, coming out to feed every few hours. He was supplied 

 with a vessel of water, sunk in the gravel, and drank frequently; 

 sometimes he was seen to run through the water and splash about 

 in it. f 



The sense of smell is generally stated to be very keen in this animal, 

 but in the present specimen it did not seem to be well developed ; he 

 would often puzzle round a piece of meat for some time before finding 

 it. It is said that moles press out the earthy contents of worms before 

 eating them, but as mine always took them beneath the surface I cannot 

 confirm the observation. The most amusing thing was to see him 

 dive into the earth ; first he grubbed a hole with his snout, then a few 

 powerful strokes of his digging paws concealed the fore part of his 

 body, and then his hind feet gave a kick in the air and disappeared. 

 Such was his boldness that he would bite at a stick if held near him, 

 and if touched behind he would turn fiercely round. When angry or 



