The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-12-10
THE FEROCIOUS MOLE.
A Very Small Animal But a Great
Fighter.
It In Claimed by biologists That, Accord
ing to Its Size, This Underground
Worker Ii the Most Savage
of tho OuadrppeCs,

THE MOLE" he replied "You are
surprised, but such, in my opinion, is
the fact. People ordinarily look upon
the mole as sluggish and harmless
creature, spending its life in cropping
blindly underground. As usual the pop
ular idea is mistaken one. The mole
Is in reality the most ferocious and
most active of animals. Imagine it
magnifed to the size of tiger and you
would have a more terrible beast than
the world has yet seen. Though with
/ defective powers of vision and there
/ fore incapable of following its prey by
sight, it would be agile beyond concep-
! ton, springing this way and that as it
went along, leaping with lightning
/ quiclzDess upon any creature which it
met, rendiDg it to pieces in a moment.
devouring the yet warm and bleeding
/ flesh and instantly seeking, with hun
/ ger Unsuitable, for fresh victim This
creature would, without hesitation. de-
YOUR serpent twenty feet in length,
and 80 tremendous would be its voraci-
ty that it would eat twenty or thirty
such snakes in the course of a day,
With one grasp of its teeth and single
clutch of its claws it could disembowel
an OK, and if it should happen to enter
fold Of sheep or an Enclosure of cattle
it would kill them all for the mere lust
of slaughter.
Let two such animals meet and how
terrific would be the battlei Fear is a
feeling which the mole seems never to
entertain. In conflict with an adver-
sary of its own kind its efforts are ex-
clusively directed to injuriag its op-
ponent, without regard for it's own pro-
lection. An examination of the slzeI-
eton Of mole will repay your trouble,
so wonderful IS its adaptation of struc-
ture to It's manner Of life. It looks
like veritable machine for digging
and it has several accessory bones which
are not found in any other living beast,
being discovered only in certain fossil
forms.
The mole is gifted with incredible
activity. 1t pursues the earth worms on
which 1t chiefly feeds with an energy
that is untiring, and, when it has caught
one, it devOurs the prey like a starving
tiger, rending it with its powerful
claws and teeth. Occasionally it will
capture bird and tear it into frag-
ments, devouring eagerly the bleeding
flesh During the latter part of June
Mr.. Mole falls in love, and in his 1T
tachments he is as furious as in all other
phases Of his nature. At that period he
cannot meet another male Of his kind
without fighting, very often to the
death. He constructs a bridal chamber
for his chosen spouse at the intersection
OF two Of his tunnels, so that there is
more than one way Of escape for her
self and tho young ones in case danger
threatens This chamber is partly
filed with dried grass for couch, and
it is always at some distance from Mr..
Moles dwelling proper
THE subterranean dwelling of Mr..
Mole is a wonderful labyrinth. No
human being could very well find his
way about in it, supposing that it's di-
mansions were sufficiently magnified to
admit his passage through the maze of
tunnels. The latter compose a net
work as complicated as that of the
sewers of metropolis. L must not be
imagined that the animal burrows at
random. On the contrary, it works on
well-defned system, though how it
forms its burrows in such admirably
straight lines, always laboring in the
blacklist darkness, is a mystery.
The home of the beast is in a hillocl1
under the shelter OF some tree or bank,
SO as to be inconspicuous. Here is it's
center of operations, from which re~u-
lar roads lead OF in different directions
to its feeding grounds If you dig into
the hillock you discover very eIab- t
crate and wonderful structure. The
central apartment of the dwelling is a
nearly spherical chamber, around
which run two circular passages, one /
on level with the ceiling and the other
at some height above. The upper circle !
is much smaller than the lower one.
Five short and nearly vertical passages
connect these galleries with each other. /
When Mr.. Mole enters his house from
one OF the tunnels he has first to get .
into the lower gallery, thence to ascend /
into the upper gallery and so descend
into the chamber. However, there is
MON
below by passage which dips down.
ward from the middle of the spherical
room, then curving upward and finally
opening into one of the bigger tunnels
or highroads. OF these highroads there
are seven or eight.
Owing to the peculiar habits of the
mole comparatively little is known
about the animal and his ways The
use of this labyrinth and complicated
system of tunnels, the latter usually
over, or rather under, a very
great space Of ground, is in some degree
A mystery. One object of the arrange
nent is doubtless that the owner in case
If alarm shall be able to make his
escape. By the continual pressure of
he animals fur the walls OF the cham
Der and passages are rendered smooth.
lard and polished, so that the roof will
lot fall in even after the most severe
storm The mole can swim excellentlv
md it often sinks wells for the purpose
Il obtaining water to drink. In fact, it
Possesses most varied accomplishments,
nd l consider that in point of ferocitv,
ctivity and voracity it is superior even
o the great cats OF the tropics"
''Ge SEku Bona"
A Zulu chief. when you enter his
Ovel, remains silent for some moments.
nd seems quite unconscious of your
TeSence At lenrth he saws in = -o,a