MAMMALIA 5 



for 2 Hedgehoggs & 5 Pyats £00, 00s. 09d. To myself for 

 5 Hedghoggs £00, 00s. 10d.' Only six of these animals were 

 killed in 1675. Possibly they were becoming less plentiful. 

 It is a little surprising that the grown men who killed Wild 

 Cats and Brocks in precipitous and dangerous places were not 

 ashamed of slaughtering the harmless Urchin. That such was 

 actually the case may be instanced by another Orton entry, 

 for the year 1674 : 'To Anth. Ward 1 brock head 2 hedgehogs 

 £00, 01s. 04d.' Mr. Coward informs me that he has on 

 several occasions come across remains of the Hedgehog in the 

 larder of the Foumart. This fact was independently brought to 

 my notice by Mr. George Dawson, whose experience is precisely 

 similar. 



Order INSECT1VORA. Fam. TALP1DJE. 



MOLE. 



Talpa europcpa, L. 

 When we remember the unremitting warfare waged against 

 the Mole during the autumn and spring months, the persever- 

 ance with which it contrives to maintain its footing among us 

 is really astonishing. In former times the destruction of the 

 Mole was sometimes compassed by private owners. On other 

 occasions it was accomplished at the public expense. It is to 

 the first system that we owe the following extract from Lord 

 William Howard's accounts for 1612: 'April ... 25. To 

 George Berton for spreading moale hills, vij s. vj d.' The 

 necessity for this outlay, which at the time must have been 

 considered less trivial than it now appears to us, was no doubt 

 suggested by the difficulty experienced in cutting hay with the 

 scythe in fields studded with mole-hills. The accounts of Hawks- 

 head parish supply an entry which deserves attention as illustrat- 

 ing the remarks which follow : ' 1795, May. To John Middlefell 

 for catching Moles at Poor house two years, 2s. 0d.' The 

 evidence of the authors of the Agricultural Survey of Cumber- 

 land shows that the practice just instanced prevailed exten- 

 sively when they wrote, in 1797: ' For destroying Moles — a 

 most excellent practice is prevalent here, for every parish to let 

 the taking of their Moles for a term of years, at a certain yearly 



