ORDER CARNASSIER. 203 



its life under ground. If ever it abandons its asylum, it is 

 but for a few moments, and only for the purpose of seeking 

 some commodious soil, and the moment it has found it, it 

 sets to work immediately. It closes the entrance to its re- 

 treat, for it fears the open air as much as the open day 

 It equally avoids mud, and a hard or rocky soil. It chooses, 

 by preference, prepared and cultivated lands ; but if the 

 water should surprise it, it hastily quits its abode for some 

 more elevated situation. The overflowing of rivers and 

 streams is the greatest scourge of the Moles, and the most 

 certain and natural means of diminishing their number. 

 These animals change their habitations according to the 

 variations of the atmosphere. During the winter, and the 

 rainy season, they remain in elevated situations. In sum- 

 mer, they descend into the valleys, and if the drought con- 

 tinues long, they will take refuge in cool and shady places, 

 along the banks of ditches or streams. 



There is no animal more accustomed to labour than the 

 Mole. Its means of subsistence are dispensed through the 

 very bosom of the earth, and it is continually occupied in 

 searching them out. Long alleys, usually parallel to the 

 surface of the soil, and in depth from four to six inches, 

 constitute the evidence of its laborious life. A skilful 

 miner, it forms its galleries with equal art and activity. 

 Sometimes it only raises the superficies of the soil, and 

 sometimes it digs deeper, according to circumstances and 

 temperature. All the roads which it opens have channels 

 of intercommunication. According as it digs, it throws 

 out the earth which it detaches, which produces those 

 little domes of ejected earth, called Mole-hills. If, while 

 engaged in its excavations, it should happen to be dis- 

 turbed, it does not attempt to fly, by issuing from its gal- 

 leries, but buries itself in the earth, by means of a perpen- 

 dicular tunnel, to the depth of nearly two feet. If its 

 channels of communication be disarranged, or the heaps of 



