40 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



to us, for it preys upon such mischievous grubs as the wire-worm 

 and the "leather-jacket", which feed upon the roots of cultivated 

 plants. Whenever you see a chain of mole-hills running across 

 a field, you may be quite sure that many a hurtful grub has been 

 destroyed there, and that the mole has been helping the farmer 

 by killing some of his very worst enemies. 



It helps us, too, even by making these hillocks of earth. They 

 look very unsightly, it is true; and if they should happen to be in 

 a field of corn or hay, they blunt the edges of the cutting-machines. 

 But then the earth of which they are made is fresh, good earth, 

 brought up from below. All that we have to do is to spread it 

 over the field, when it makes a good "top-dressing'', as the farmers 

 call it, and strengthens the crops. 



Once more, the burrows which the mole makes help to drain 

 the fields; so that in at least three different ways the animal is 

 useful to us. 



Why, you may ask, does the mole burrow in the ground.' 



This question is very easily answered. The grubs and worms 

 upon which it feeds live underground; and of course it must go 

 underground, too, if it wishes to catch them. 



Besides the long tunnels which it drives in all directions, the 



mole makes a kind of dwelling-place, or "fortress", as we mostly 



^_„^ call it, underneath the 



roots of a bush or tree. 

 Ji^MiAi^ /yp^f^X^^'^^'^^ In the middle is a large 



. . ^.,,____^._. chamber or sleeping-place, 



' * with a warm bed made 



:*.»;»-.,^v*sx> Qf j^y grass and moss; 



A Mole's Dwelline; j n j -^ i 



'' and all round it and over 



it run tunnels, leading both into the nest and into each other. So, 

 if a weasel should follow a mole along its tunnel, it is nearly sure 

 to miss its way and lose itself when it comes to the fortress. 



It is an odd thing that neither the mole nor the shrew, its 

 near relative, is found in Ireland. 



^ 



