Quadrupeds. 1903 



Habits of the Mole. — " The habits of the mole will vary with the soil, and particu- 

 larly with the structure of the ground, as it is rich and deep, or shallow, level, rocky, 

 uneven, or intersected with raised mounds, or hedges of earth five or six feet high, 

 and of the same thickness, such as divide fields in the West of England. The pre- 

 sence of this animal is known by the heaps of fine earth, or hills, thrown up during 

 its subterranean operations : in deep ground little of its labours can be traced, except 

 when thus marked ; but in a thin soil, or in hard ground, a ridge is often driven along, 

 which is distinctly raised above the ordinary level of the surface; and the mole-hill is 

 only elevated where the earth is so fine and friable, that the removal of some part of 

 it is necessary, to give the creature a clear course in its runs backward and forward. 

 The creep or run is in a zigzag direction ; and when the neighbourhood is very pro- 

 ductive of its prey, exceedingly so, as if the animal was unwilling to pass out of so 

 fertile a district. But for the most part it takes a straightforward course ; aud in the 

 open space of a down, it passes through more than fifty paces of distance without lift- 

 ing a heap, with a progress amounting to two or three human paces in a day, and the 

 whole run is two hundred feet in length. In the course of this passage, advantage is 

 taken of any obstructions which occur, as if conscious of the probability of pursuit ; 

 and the run is made to pass among the roots of dwarf furze, and even under a large 

 stone, while, at irregular distances, openings are made, to allow of excursions on the 

 surface, and the free admission of air. There are many lateral branches from the 

 principal passage, but none of them extend to any great distance ; for it seems wisely 

 to avoid forming such a labyrinth as might confound itself in its daily course, or in 

 its efforts to escape from an enemy, to whose depredations it is exposed even in its re- 

 treat. Its time of labour is chiefly at an early hour in the morning ; but if everything 

 be still it may be seen at work at other seasons. The slightest sound or movement of 

 an approaching foot stops the work, and no further lifting of the earth will be attempted 

 that day. These runs are mostly made towards the end of autumn ; are this creature's 

 hunting-grounds for food ; are abandoned when the soil has been thoroughly searched 

 through and through ; and though they are formed with so much toil as to make it 

 desirable not to desert it while there is anything to be done there, yet in a month or 

 two the animal quits it for new ground, perhaps at a great distance, where the hunting 

 promises better success. 



" A favourite spot for its winter-quarters, and one it prefers at other seasons, is in 

 enclosed fields, under the shelter of a hedge of high-piled earth, along the middle of 

 whose base the run is carried, and in whose mass of mould it finds security from cold 

 and from its natural enemies. The heaps it throws up are cast on the sides, and at 

 intervals a lateral passage is driven into the field, to which, when the inducement is 

 powerful, it transfers its principal operations ; and there encounters its greatest hazards 

 from the traps of the mole-catcher, and the pursuit of the weasel and the rat, with 

 whom it fights furiously, but without success. When undisturbed, the mole often 

 shifts its quarters; and in making a new selection, its choice seems to be much influ- 

 enced by caprice. It makes these changes especially in the months of July and 

 August ; but I have known it to take excursions of removal to such distances, that no 

 mark of its presence could be detected, in the month of January, if an open and moist 

 season. A large part of such a journey must be along the surface ; and it is probable 

 that at all times this is its mode of emigration to distant places. In summer much of 

 its time is thus passed in migrations from one field to another, because the hardness 

 of the ground renders it difficult to throw up the soil, and follow up the worms, which 



