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 



