CHAPTER VIIl. 



MOLE A-NB HEDQEKOG. 



THE MOLE {Ta/J^a Eiiropcea). 



The question "Is the Mole injurious to the farmer, so often 

 asked, is best answered in the negativ^e, with a quahfication 

 to the effect that in those districts where the natural enemies 

 of the mole have been killed down it will be necessary for 

 the occupier of the land to do their work, and, by trapping, 

 to keep the numbers of the mole within bounds. 



When a colony of moles becomes firmly established in a 

 certam locality, it soon begins to increase, and, as a matter of 

 course, the stronger it becomes the more rapid in proportion 

 is the increase. The natural enem.ies of the mole are now 

 few in number, and consequently sooner or later the 

 occupier of land on which such a colony is established has 

 to commence a campaign, and spend a certain amount of 

 money on traps and head money, until the moles' numbers 

 are considerably reduced. Unfortunately, trapping m.oles 

 always gives us, sooner or later, a practical illustration of 

 the proverb about a multiplicity of cooks. In a little book 

 published in 1836 there is a "tailpiece," after the manner 

 of Bewick, bearing upon this. An iron gin rat-trap had 

 been set upon the floor of a store-room, and a cat had been 

 put in likewise; the woodcut shows the cat caught by the 

 foot in the trap, while the rats are running about the room 

 in safety. When passing a place where a good deal of mole- 

 trapping has been done, I am often reminded of this wood- 

 cut by seeing a weasel hanging up among the dead moles ; 



