MOLE. 129 



and devour a small bird ; exhibiting, in the first place, a 

 considerable exercise of stratagem to get within reach of 

 its victim, and changing on an instant this mode of ap- 

 proach for the most sudden and impetuous attack ; 

 seizing the hapless bird by the belly, tearing it open, 

 and thrusting its muzzle amongst the entrails, where it 

 appears to luxuriate on its bloody repast. Even the 

 weaker of its own species, under particular circumstances, 

 are not exempted from this promiscuous ferocity ; for 

 if two Moles be placed together in a box, without a 

 very plentiful supply of food, the weaker certainly falls 

 a prey to the stronger. No thoroughbred Bulldog 

 keeps a firmer hold of the object of its attack than the 

 Mole. Mr. Jackson, a very intelligent mole-catchei', says 

 that, when a boy, his hand was so severely and firmly 

 laid hold of by one, that he was obliged to use his teeth 

 in order to loosen its hold. 



It is not only in the warm and temperate seasons of 

 the year, when the food of the Mole is of comparatively 

 easy access and exists in great plenty, that its labours 

 are steadily and regularly followed ; in the winter, when 

 the frost has penetrated deeply into the soil, and the 

 ordinary hunting-grounds are rendered useless and im- 

 practicable, it descends to a considerable depth by a 

 perpendicular shaft, till it arrives at the part to which 

 the earth-worms have been driven by the cold. Here 

 its labours must be even more toilsome and less produc- 

 tive than ordinary ; but the voracity of this indefatiga- 

 ble gourmand must still be appeased ; and as it lays up 

 no store for the winter, and cannot fast with impunity 

 for more than a few hours, it may well be imagined how 

 incessantly and laboriously it must work in such a sea- 

 son, and at so great a depth, to obtain a sufiicient supply 

 of worms to satisfy its insatiable craving. This rage of 



s 



