133 talpaDjE. 



rous than the females^ it often happens that several of the 

 former sex are in pursuit of one of the latter ; in which 

 case bloody, and even fatal, battles ensue between the 

 rivals, which fight on the surface of the ground, and the 

 victorious male is left in undisturbed possession. The 

 attachment of the male to his mate would appear to be 

 very powerful, though probably but short-lived. Le 

 Court several times found a female taken in his trap, 

 and the male lying dead close to her. Whether this 

 may have occurred from starvation, the force of sexual 

 attachment having been strong enough to overcome that 

 of hunger, it is perhaps difficult to prove ; but when it 

 is recollected how short a fast proves fatal to this animal, 

 it is not perhaps an improbable explanation of this curi- 

 ous fact. 



De Vaux seems inclined, in his antipathy to the Mole, 

 to deny to it the possession of a single quality that 

 bears the slightest analogy to any trait of character which 

 we are accustomed to consider amiable or virtuous. If, 

 however, we may believe the statement of one who de- 

 clares himself to have been an eye-witness of the follow- 

 ing fact, it is impossible not to accord to it the strongest 

 conjugal and parental attachment. In the work so often 

 quoted, is inserted a letter from a person who professes 

 himself the advocate of this ill-fated animal, and who 

 affirms that when a sudden flood reaches its nest, the 

 male and female are seen braving in company the dangers 

 which threaten them, and exposing their own lives to 

 the utmost hazard in order to save their young ; in which 

 office of afi'ection they mutually assist and protect each 

 other. 



The nest is always distinct, and frequently remote 

 from the fortress, and is usually, but not always, covered 

 by a hillock ; which, when it exists, is much larger than 



