76 



FARM VERMIN, HELPFUL AND HURTFUL, 



often merely trenches along the surface ; and in late winter 

 or early spring, when a fall of snow has covered the ground 

 to the depth of some inches, it sometimes works just under- 

 neath the snoWj leaving only tracks on the ground which 

 are exposed when a thaw ensues. 



It may readily be imagined, therefore, what a large amount 

 of food the mole must consume ; and it is impossible to 

 estimate the effect upon the numbers of the earthworm 

 which a total extermination of this animal would produce. 



The mole produces from three to six young, which are 

 usually born about April or May ; but young moles may be 

 found at any time during the summer, and it is possible 

 that two litters are reared in the course of the season. 



When it is necessary to reduce the numbers of the mole 

 in any particular locality, the best way is to procure a dozen 

 or so of the ordinary iron mole-traps, and set a labourer^ 

 who has some knowledge of the habits of these animals, to 

 work as molecatcher, paying him so much a head for the 

 moles he catches. 



There is, perhaps, no animal about which more divergence 

 of opinion exists than the mole. There can be no doubt of 

 the beautiful adaption of its structure to its mode of life, 

 nor of the ingenuity of its mining operations, and it is worth 

 while to consider it for a moment in this aspect before 

 viewing its actions from an economic standpoint. 



Its long, cylindrical body is covered with an upright pile 

 of fur, which, so to speak, cannot be stroked the wrong way, 

 No external ears project from the head to impede it in its 

 passage through the earth. 



Our English species {Talpa Eitropcea) is not blind. The 

 eyes are very minute and buried in the fur, and keenness of 

 vision is assuredly not its strong point. There is a South 

 European species {T, ccecd) with eyes still less serviceable, 

 for they remain covered by a fold of skin, so that the popular 

 idea of the blindness of the miole tribe is not without some 



