TUNNEL BUILDERS 
61 
hind him so that he cannot retreat, and dig him 
out with the hoe before he has time to think! I 
would rather trust to this method than to all the 
mole traps that were ever invented. 
“ Moles are good swimmers, and can pass from 
bank to bank, or from the shore to an island with 
the greatest ease. Each mole has its own habita¬ 
tion and its own hunting-grounds, and woe to the 
poor blunderer that ventures to trespass in 
strange precincts. For the mole is as furious at 
fighting as he is at working, and his teeth and 
claws are most formidable. In places where the 
moles are so plentiful as to have established a 
mole colony, there are certain underground high¬ 
ways which are common to all. And one general 
road law is most punctiliously observed: if two 
moles meet, the smaller one promptly retires into 
a gallery and lets the august one pass. In case 
two strong prideful knights meet, usually neither 
one will give an inch, and there is a fight to the 
death. 
“ The mole’s nest or home is very remarkable. 
The animal first throws up a mound of earth 
which it packs and presses firmly. Then a circu¬ 
lar gallery is run around close to the top of the 
mound. Some distance below a second and 
larger circular gallery is run, and the two subse¬ 
quently are connected by five straight passages. 
Next a central chamber is constructed between 
