The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-01-27
THE FEROCIOUS MOLE.
A Very Small Animal But Great
Fighter.
1t Is Claimed by biologists That, Accord
ing to It's Size, This Underground
Worker Is the Most savage
of the Quadrupeds-

ing It's Size, This Underground
Worker Is the Most Savage
of the 0uadrupeds.
ssWhat is the fiercest animal in the
world?" asked Washington Star writer
of a zoologist.
The mole" he replied. You are
surprised, but such, in my opinion, is
the fact. People ordinarily look upon
the mole as a sluggish and harmless
creature, spending its life in cropping
blindIy underground. AS usual the pop
ular idea is "A mistaken one. The mole
is in reality the most ferocious and
most active of animals. Imagine IL
magnified to the size of a 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 he agile beyond concep-
ton, springing this way and that as 1T
went along. leaping with lightning
quiclIness upon any creature which IT
met, rending it TO pieces in a moment
devouring the yet warm and bleeding
flesh and instantly seeking, with hun
ger Unsuitable, for a fresh victim. This
creature would, without hesitation, de-
vour a serpent twenty feet in length,
and so tremendous would be its voraci-
ty that il would eat twenty or thirty
such snakes in the course of day.
With one grasp of its teeth and single
clutch of its claws it could disembowel
an OK, and if il should happen to enter
a fold of sheep or an inclosure of cattle
it would kill them all for the mere lust
of slaughter.
LET two such animals meet and hsw
terrific would be the battle! Fear is
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 injuring its op
ponent, without regard for its own pro
lection. An examination of the sllel-
eton of a mole will repay your trouble,
so wonderful is its adaptation of struc-
ture to its manner of life. II looks
like a veritable machine for digging
and il 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 it 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 at
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 4 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 the young ones in case danger
threatens. This chamber is partly
filled with dried grass tor couch, and
ii is always at some distance from Mr..
Mole's 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 its di-
mensions We're 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 a metropolis. 1t must not be
random. On the contrary, it works on
a well-detined system, though how it
forms its burrows in such admirably
straight lines, always laboring in the
blacIlest darkness, is a mystery
The home of the beast is in hillock
under the shelter of some tree or bank,
50 as to be inconspicuous. Here is its
center of operations, from which regu-
lar roads lead off in different directions
TO it's feeding grounds II you dig into
the hillock you discover a very elab-
orate and wonderful structure The
central apartment of the dwelling is n
nearly spherical chamber, around
which run two circular passages, one
on a 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 70 get
into the lower gallery, thence To ascend
into the upper gallery and so descend
into the chamber. However, there is
another entrance to the chamber from
below by passage which dips down
ward from the middle of the spherical
room, then curving upward and finally
opening into one Qf 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
great space of ground, is in some degree
n mystery. One object of the arrange
ment is doubtless that the owner in case
of alarm shall be able to make his
escape. By the continual pressure of
the animals fur the walls of the cham
Der and passages are rendered smooth.
hard and polished, so that the roof will
not fall in even after the most severe
storm. The mole can swim eXcellently
and 1T often sinks wells for the purpose
OF obtaining water to drink. In fact, il
possesses most varied accomplishments.
and | consider that in point of ferocity,
activity and voracity it is superior even
to the great cats of the tropics
Patriotism and Pay.
Talking of national emblems the
other day while calling on a friend, l
said l thought ours the most beautiful
flag in the world, and that when
abroad the sight of the stars and stripes
made my heart jump for joy.
My friends seamstress, who was
sewing in the room, remarked, some
what sadly:
You would lose some Of your pa
triotism if you made those same flags,
as my sister does"