, 1864-03-12
Curious Habits of the Mole.

Some Young persons capIu' ca IIoIe
and brought it to II naturalist, the Rev. ).
Ii. Wood, secured in large box. 1t ran
about with great agility, thrusting its long
and flexible snuut into every crevice. A
little Garth was placed in the box when the
mole pushed its way through the loose soil
entering aud re entering the heap, and in a
few moments scattering the earth toIerably
evenly over the box, every now and then
twitcllirg with quick ccIfyulsive shaking
the loosc Garth from its fur. &t one mo.
ment the mole was grubbing, hardly to be
distinguished from the surrounding suil,
completely covered with dust the next in
slant the moving dust heap had vanished,
and in its place was soft vclvcty coat.
The creature was unrcmItting III its at
tempts to get through the box, but the
wood was too tough for it To make any
impression; and after satisfying itself that
it could not get through deal board, it
took to attempts to scramble over the sides,
ever slipping sideways and coming on its
forefeet. The rapid mobility Of its snout
was astonishing, but its senses Of sight and
smell seem to be practically obsolete, for
worm placed in its track within the te, tn
of an inch OF its nose was not detected !:
although no sooner did its nose and feet
touch one, than in moment it flung itself
OH its prey aud shook the Torm backward
and forward, and scratched it about until
il got one end or the other into its mouth,
when it devoured it grcedily, he crunching
sound of its teeth being audible two yards
away.
Worms it ate as fast as supplied-de-
vouring fourteen in thirteen minutes, after
which it was supplied with a second batch
Of ten. 1t was then tried with millipedes,
but invariably re iectcd them.
Having heard from popular report that
q twelve hours fast would kill mole, Mr..
Wood determined to give his captive a
good supper at eight and an early breakfast
the next morning at five or six. So he dug
perscveringly large handful of worms
and put them into the box. As the mole
went backward aud forward, it touched
one of the worms with its foot and imnle.
diately flew at it, and while trying TO get
it into his stomach, came upon the mass oi
worms and flung itself upon them in par.
oxy SIN Of excitement, pulling them alb ut,
and too overjoyed with its treasure to set.
tie upon any individual in particular. AT
last il caught one Of them and commenced
crunching, the rest making their escape in
all directions in tho luosc mold. Thinking
the animal had now a supply, two dozen
worms having been put into the box, Mr..
Wood shut up the box with an easy con-
science; but IL happened the following
morning that the rain fell in perfect tor.
rents, and, hoping for some remission, he
waited until nine o'clock before he opened
the box. Twelve hours had just elapsed
since the mole received its supply, and as
it had Teen probably another hour in hunt
ing about before II had devJur,d d them all,
not more than eleven hours had probably
elapsed since the last worm was consumed.
But the mole was dead.
III forgot" Mr. Wood says, ato weigh
the worms he devoured, but rs they would
have filled my two hands held cupwise, !
may infer that they weighed very little less
than the animal who ate them" The ex
treme voracity and r. stlesS movements Of
the little animal here recorded, shows its
value to the agriculturalist "as subsuiI
drainer, who worts without wages" and
its great usefulness in keeping down the
prolific race of worms--themselve useful
in their way as forming in the main the
fertile soil itself.