CHAP. V THE BADGER AND HIS KIN 131 
is true, are mainly nocturnal, but they often come 
to the surface and wander about, even on the 
snow, as also do the shrews. These open-air excur- 
sions are made usually in the dusk of early dawn and 
late evening, or during rains; but they also have 
the curious custom of coming out for a saunter 
precisely at noon, so that it is surprising that they 
are not more often seen. 
The moles are blind, having only rudimentary 
eyes, but their ears and sense of touch are extremely 
acute, enabling them to detect not only the sound, 
but the jar of approaching footsteps, and hasten 
into their shelters. The mole is frequently re- 
vealed to us for the first time by finding one lying 
dead on the turf. There will be no sign of vio- 
lence about its body, nor of disease; and it is 
lying out on the grass in the daylight, careless of 
the exposure that all its life long had been its 
dread. What killed it? Does it feel death ap- 
proaching and creep out of its cellar to end its days 
under the blue sky and in the sweet air? Do the 
other moles, foreseeing its fate, drive it forth? I 
have no answer; but the explanation is probably 
far more prosaic than that. Shrews, closely allied 
to the moles, and among the hardiest of animals, 
dwelling upon almost arctic mountain tops, and 
braving the severest winter weather, often perish 
in an equally mysterious manner. I have more 
than once had one die in a short time after capt- 
ure, although it had not been hurt in the slightest 
