274 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
to procure it about two hours in the morning, and as many 
in the evening, and then returns to her home or resting- 
place, which is so constructed, that she is instantly made 
aware of any danger. This effect is produced by form- 
ing the upper runs in a sort of circle, so as to communi- 
cate a vibration when any thing passes over them. The 
Mole then takes alarm, and escapes by one of her safety 
runs. 
The Mole is not often seen on the surface of the earth. 
I once, however, caught one, and turned it loose upon a 
lawn, the turf of which was on a bed of strong gravel, and 
particularly hard and dry. Notwithstanding these disad- 
vantages, the Mole contrived to bury itself almost in an 
instant, working into the earth by means of her snout and 
fins, (for they can hardly be called feet,) so fast, that the 
ground seemed to yield to her mere pressure. 
The power of smelling in the mole is very acute; and 
it is supposed that this sense serves to direct her in the 
search of her food. She hunts after beetles and worms, 
which last she pursues eagerly, but not always success- 
fully; for the earth-worm is aware of its danger, and quick 
in escaping from it. Her search for prey taking place in 
the morning and evening, when birds are more generally 
on their feed, must be the means of contributing greatly 
to their subsistence by driving worms to the surface of the 
earth, and furnishes another striking proof that the 
“ fowls of the air” have their food provided by an Al- 
mighty and superintending Providence in a variety of 
ways. 
Le Court, who assisted M. St. Hilaire in his observa- 
tions, and who appears to have been a sort of philosophi- 
cal Mole-catcher, was surprised when the naturalist ex- 
pressed a doubt as to the Mole seeing. He informed 
him that, in swimming rivers, they habitually guide them- 
selves by their sight; but, in order to satisfy M. St. Hi- 
laire on this point, he contrived the following experiment 
with him: — They made two openings in a dry tiled drain, 
at one of which several Moles were successively intro- 
duced. Le Court took his stand at the other. If he stood 
quite still, the Mole soon came out and escaped; but if, 
at the moment in which she showed herself at the hole, he 
moved only his thumb, she stopped and turned back. By 
repeating this as often as she re-appeared, the Mole was 
kept imprisoned in the drain. 
There has been a very general idea amongst our Mole- 
catchers, that if the smallest drop of blood is taken from 
a mole, it occasions instant death. Le Court seems to ac- 
count for this opinion in speaking of the fights which 
take place between the male Moles, by saying, that if 
one is ever so slightly wounded in a vein near the ear, 
the wound is mortal. 
In order to ascertain the rate at which a Mole moved, 
he put in practice the following curious experiment: — 
He placed some slight sticks, with a little flag at the top of 
them, in the run of a Mole, which he had previously as- 
certained by tracing it to be of considerable length, and 
along which the Mole passed and repassed four times a 
day in search of food. These sticks were placed at cer- 
tain intervals in the run, so that if the Mole touched 
them, the flag would instantly show it. He then intro- 
duced a horn at one extremity of the run, and blowing 
it loudly, frightened the animal; and she then went 
along the run at such a rate, moving the flags in her 
passage, that Le Court and his friends, who were sta- 
tioned at intervals along the run to assist in the ob- 
servation, considered that she went as fast as a horse could 
trot at its greatest speed. 
Hunger in the Mole is thought to be a more violent 
feeling than fear; and its appetite is singularly voracious. 
If it sees a bird near, it quits its hole — approaches as if 
to attack it; and if the bird pecks it, the Mole retires 
towards its hole, and tempts the bird to follow. She 
then watches her opportunity — darts upon it — seizes 
it by the belly, which she tears open, assisting herself 
for this purpose with her flaps, and, thrusting her head 
into it, devours it. She drinks as greedily as she eats. 
The Mole does not, like the mouse, lay up a store of 
food, as she preys on worms, and various kinds of in- 
sects: she will also eat frogs, but will not touch a toad 
if ever so hungry. A Mole was tried with eggs and 
oysters, but refused to eat either. They will, however, 
eat fruit, and, Buffon says, acorns. If two Moles are shut 
up together without food, the strongest will devour the 
weakest, even to the bones: nothing but the skin is left, 
which they never eat, and which, when one has killed 
the other, is always seen to be ripped up along the 
belly. It was found that ten or twelve hours was the 
longest time they could live without food. This fact 
seems to prove that the Mole is not torpid in frosty 
weather, which Linnseus asserted she was. It is known 
that, in such seasons, worms, ants, and the larvae of 
cock-chafers and beetles, penetrate deep into the ground. 
It is probable, therefore, that the runs of the Mole 
made in search of food are regulated, as to their depth, 
by the habits of the grubs on which she feeds. One 
would suppose, from the texture of its fur, which is 
particularly short and thick, that the Mole is not very sus- 
ceptible of cold. Indeed, its whole formation is ad- 
mirably adapted to its mode of life. 
It has been said, that the Mole, when the ground 
which it frequents is flooded, will climb up trees. 
This, however, seems to be unnecessary, as I have 
