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THE STORY OF THE MOLE. 
The eyes of the mole are very small, in order to prevent them from 
being injured by the earth through which the animal makes its way; indeed 
larger eyes would be useless underground. When, however, the mole 
requires to use its eyes, it can bring them forward from the mass of fur 
which conceals and protects them when not in use. The acute ears and 
delicate sense of smell in the meantime supply the place of eyes. Its fur 
is very fine, soft, capable of turning in any direction, and will not retain 
a particle of mold. 
But the most extraordinary part of the mole is the paw or hand with 
which it digs. The two fore-paws are composed of five fingers, armed with 
sharp, strong nails, in order to scrape up the earth; and to prevent the 
accumulated mold from impeding the mole’s progress, the hands are turned 
outwardly, so as to throw the earth out of its way. 
Although each mole has its own hunting ground, yet there are mostly 
high roads which connect the different hunting grounds with each other, 
and which are used by many individuals in common, the only precaution 
taken being, that if two moles should happen to meet, the weaker immedi¬ 
ately retreats into one of the numerous side galleries which open from the 
high road, and permits its aristacratical neighbor to pass. 
The common web-footed mole doubtless received its name on account 
of its webbed hind-feet, which led to the very natural inference that it was 
a swimming animal. But this is a complete misnomer, for not only is this 
mole not known voluntarily to swim, but in the selection of its haunts 
it shows no preference for the vicinity of water, but manifests rather a 
contrary tendency. Its home is underground, and its entire life is spent 
beneath the surface. The nest of this mole is commonly half a foot or 
mere below the surface, and from it several passages lead away in the direc¬ 
tion of its favorite foraging-grounds. These primary passages gradually 
approach the surface, and finally become continuous with, or open into, an 
ever-increasing multitude of tortuous galleries, which wind about in every 
direction, and sometimes come so near the surface as barely to escape open¬ 
ing upon it, while at other times they are several inches deep. Along the 
most superficial of these horizontal burrows the earth is actually thrown 
up in the form of long ridges, by which the^animal’s progress can be traced. 
The distance that they can thus travel in a given time is almost incredible. 
The dwelling place is usually placed near a hillock or between trees 
and consists of a central chamber with passages conducting to two circular 
galleries placed one above another. The higher of these two galleries has 
