230 INSECTIVORA. 



spring-traps, and the carcases of the poor ill-used Mole 

 may be seen hanging up by scores on hedges and stiles. 

 In some parts of England Mole-catching is a regular 

 business. 



The Weasel succeeds in capturing the Mole, and the 

 Kestrel is also said to seize it when above ground. 



The food of the Mole is entirely of an insectivorous 

 nature. It is said sometimes to^ feed above the ground. 

 According to the Penny Magazine, the Mole has 4 to 5 

 young, usually in the month of April. 



In the drought of 1887 many Moles are said to have 

 died for want of food, the earth, especially in clay 

 soils, having become so hard that even digging was 

 impossible. In severe frosts, the Mole often retreats to 

 the shelter of hedges. 



There are about 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 Moles in the 

 British Isles, and the Eev. J. G. Wood mentions that the 

 most conspicuous varieties are the Shrew, Changeable, 

 Cape, and Star-nosed Mole. 



The following lines are taken form Paley's "Natural 

 Theology " (p. 155) : — " The plush covering which, by 

 the smoothness, closeness and polish of the short piles 

 that compose it, rejects the adhesion of almost every 

 species of earth, defends the animal from cold and 

 wet, and from the impediment which it would ex- 

 perience by the mould sticking to its body. Prom soils 

 of all kinds the little pioneer comes forth, and clean. 

 Inhabiting dirt, it is of all animals the neatest. 



" But what I have always most admired in the Mole 

 is its eyes. This animal, occasionally visiting the 

 surface^ and wanting, for its safety and direction, to be 

 informed when it does so, or when it approaches it, a 

 perception of light was necessary. I do not know that 

 the clearness of sight depends at all upon the size of 



