42 TALPID^— TALPA 



drawn back, its back arched, and its hands or fore paws 

 turned so as to hold down the fragment, at which it tore 

 with its little sharp teeth. Soitietimes it fell asleep over its 

 food, and awoke with renewed appetite ; generally, however, 

 it retired underground to sleep, coming out to feed every few 

 hours. " The most amusing thing was to see him dive into 

 the earth ; first he grubbed a hole with his snout, then a 

 few powerful strokes of his digging paws concealed the fore 

 part of his body, and then his hind feet gave a kick in 

 the air and disappeared." 



One which Mr Adams kept alive in good health and 

 vigour until, after eight days, he released it, was an enormous 

 eater. When its food was a worm it would first seize it with 

 its mouth and, holding it down with its paws, would feel the way 

 with its snout to an end, as often one as the other, after which 

 it would consume it from end to end by a series of short, quick 

 jerks, now and then giving it a preliminary brushing with snout 

 and paws to remove the dirt. 



" On one occasion a large lobworm had burrowed nearly 

 out of sight, when the mole came upon it, seized it, but 

 instead of tugging at it furiously, as I had expected, and 

 thereby breaking it, he held it taut, and presently yielding 

 to the gentle tension, it was secured whole. This know- 

 ledge of the fragile nature of a worm, to say nothing of 

 the ultimate consequences of haste and fracture, is remarkable, 

 and the self-restraint on the part of so impetuous a creature 

 is still more so." 



Worms were undoubtedly the favourite food of this indi- 

 vidual, but it also ate slugs without hesitation. It was offered 

 freshly killed mice, but would only tackle them when there were 

 no worms available, and then only when slit open. The heart, 

 lungs, and intestines were the only parts touched. 



Another account of a captive mole by the late Mrs Eliza 

 Brightwen^ differs from that of Mr Adams as regards the animal's 

 method of eating worms. He pounced upon one "with the 

 fury of a tiger, and holding it in his mouth, tore it to pieces 

 with his sharp claws and rapidly devoured all the pieces, and 

 snuffing about to make sure he had quite finished it, he then 



' Wild Nature won by Kindness, 133, 1896. 



