Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1893-01-19

ribs Underground Worker L. the Mos
savage OF the Fonr-Footsd Kind.


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 blindly underground. AS us
ual, the popular idea is q mistaken
'one. III z :seamole is in reality the most
feroclous and most active OF animals.
Imagine IL magnified 10 the size of a
tiger and you would have more ter
fible beast than the world has yet
seen. Though with defective powers
or vision end therefore incapable of
following its prey by sight, 1t would
be agile beyond conception, springing
this way and that as it went along,
leaping with lightning quickness up
on any creature which 1t met, rending
it TO pieces in a moment, devouring
the yet warm and bleeding flesh and
instantly seeking, with hunger insa-
table, for fresh victim. This Great
ure would, without hesitation, de-
your a serpent twenty feet in length,
and so tremendous would be it's vo-
racity that il would eat twenty or
thirty such snakes in the course of a
day. With one grasp OF its teeth
and a single clutch of its claws it
could disembowel IN OK. and, IL 1t
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 battlel
Fear is a feeling which the mole
seems never to entertain. In
conflict with an adversary of its own
kind its efforts are exclusively di-
rected to injuring its opponent, with
out regard for its own protection. An
examination of the skeleton Of mole
will repay your trouble, so wonderful
is its adaptation OF structure to its
manner of life. 1t looks like a veri-
table 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 it chiefly feeds with an en-
ergy that is untiring, and, when it
has caught one, it devours the prey
like starving tiger, rending it with
its powerful claws and teeth. Occa-
sionally it will capture bird and
tear IL into fragments, devouring
eagerly the bleeding flesh. During
the latter part of June Mr.. Mole falls
in love. and in his attachments he is
as furious as in all other phases of
his nature. At that period he can
not meet another male OF his kind
without fighting, very often to the
death. He constructs bridal cham
Der for his chosen spouse at the in
tersection of two Of his tunnels. so
so that there is more than one way
of escape for herself and the young
ones in case danger threatens. This
chamber is partially filed with dried
grass for couch, and it is always at
some distance from Mr.. Mole's dwell
| ling proper.
"The subterranean dwelling of Mr..
Mole is wonderful labyrinth. Nc
human being could very well find his
way about in it, supposing that its
dimensions were sufficiently magni-
fed to admit his passage through the
maze of tunnels. The latter com
pose a network as complicated as that
of the sewers of metropolis. II
must not be imagined that the ami
NAL burrows at random. On the con
trary, ii works on well-detined sys
TEN, though how it forms its bur.
rows in such admirably straight lines,
always laboring in the BLACKLIST dark.
ness, is mystery.
"The home of the beast is in hill.
ock under the shelter of some tree OF
bank, so as to be incOnspicuous. Here
is its center of operations from which
regular roads lead off in different di
rections to its feeding grounds. i
you dig into the hillock you discover
very elaborate and wonderful struc
ture. The central apartment of the
dwelling is is nearly spherical cham
Der, 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 passage:
| COuHcCU UuCoC BdllCllCo NiOii OdOi
other. When Mr.. Mole enters hi
house from one of the tunnels he ha
first to get into the lower gallery
thence to ascend into the upper gal
lery, and so descend into the cham
Der. However, there is another. en-
trance to the chamber from below b!
a passage which dips downward from
| tho middle nf the Suharical rOOm
then curving upward and finally open
ing into one of the bigger tunnels o
highroads. OF these highroads ther,
are seven or eight.
sowing to the peculiar habits o
the mole comparatively little j
known about the animal and hi
ways. The use of this labyrinth ant
complicated system of tunnels, tn
latter usually extending over, o
rather under, "a very great space o
ground, is ia some degree mystery
One object OF the arrangement ]
doubtless that the owner, in case o
alarm, shall be able TO make his es
cape. BY the continual pressure o
the animals fur the walls OF tn
chamber and passages are rendere'
smooth, hard and polished, so tina
the roof will not fall in even afte
the most severe storm. The mol
can swim excellently, and it Oftei
sinks wells for the purpose OF obtain
ing water to drink. In fact, it pos
sesses most varied accomplishments
and / consider that in point OF feroC
ffv activity and voracitV IL ic gunpri