396 tMe common mole. 



otherwise, they utter a shrill scream, and prepare 

 for their defence by exerting the strength of their 

 claws and teeth. They are said to be very ferocious 

 animals ; and however contented they may be to- 

 gether underground, yet when above they will some- 

 times tear and eat one another* In a glass case, in 

 which a Mole, a Toad, and a '^'^iper were inclosed, 

 the Mole has been known to dispatch the other two, 

 and to devour a great part of each. 



The skin of the Mole is exceedingly tough; the 

 fur is close-set, and softer than the finest velvet, or, 

 perhaps than the fur of any other animal. — This is 

 usually black : but Moles have been found spotted 

 with white ; — and sometimes, though only rare- 

 ly, altogether white. — This animal is said to be 

 entlrelv unknown in Ireland. 



Linnaeus says that the Mole passes the winter in a 

 state of torpidity. In" this assertion, however, he is 

 directly contradicted by the Comte de BufTon ; ac- 

 cording to whom it sleeps so little in the winter, 

 that it raises the earth in the same manner as during 

 the summer. 



TiiC following Is a very remarkable instance, re- 

 lated by Arthur Bruce, Esq. in the Transactions of 

 the Linnean Society, of the exertions which the 

 Mole make towards crossing even broad waters. 

 •^ On visiting (says this gentleman) the Loch of 

 Clunie, which I often did, I observed in it a small 

 island at the distance of one hundred and eighty 

 yards from the nearest land, measured to be so upon 

 the ice. Upon the island, Lord Airly, tlic proprie- 

 tor, has a castle and a small shrubbery. I remarked 



