The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1910-12-29
The Mole and His Fur.


Being only six inches long, ths
mole may claim 10 be the smallest
fur trade. and. were he a rare for.
eign beast. there would, no doubt
be much costly competition for his
spoils. IL takes a good many skins
two or three dozen, to make even a
muller of moleskin, so that, even I'm
spite OF the commonness OF the little
beast, an article of attire contrib
uted by him IS not of the cheapest.
For another thing, the skins have 60
be matched, for they are not all OF
not black, is the mole's real color,
in spite of common illusions to him
as a black animal: "the little gen.
tleman in black velvet the jacob
ties used to call him, when they
drank his health as the constructor
of the obstruction which caused a
horses stumble. fatal to William of
Orange A really black mole. how
ever, seems to be quite unknown,
though in certain lights the creature
may look black enough; it would be
easier TO find a white one. for white
moles have often been recorded, and
pied, speckled and yellow ones are
also known freaks.
Perhaps the rare colors are not
strongly hereditary. or, more likely
they are associated with cOnstitu-
lions other than of that iron charac-
ter which goes appropriately with
the ordinary steel-gray fur of the
little miner. For the mole is an
animal who does everything as. the
Irish-by main strength; violently
he tears his way through the ground
with his long-nailed. handlike paws,
and ravenously he seizes aud erunches
the worms and burrowing grubs
which are the object of his excava-
tons; with equal force he engages
in conflicts with his rival moles, and
dimes on the body of the yanquished
with cannibal glee unequaled by
South Sea islanders In their palmiest
days. He is always on the go; he
works and sleeps in three-hour
shifts. day and night alike. for the
fire that burns in his little soft body
is SO fierce that II needs free and
frequent stocking with victuals; II he
misses lunch he is likely to be dead
by dinner time, and the amount of
his daily meals would total up to at
least his own weight.
Must Always Toll.
Summer and winter bring to him
but change in toll; in the cold
time he must delve deeper to fol-
low the descending worms, while
when heat and drouths send them
too low even for him he must take
risks ON the surface in order to hunt
slugs aud snails; lucky If he can
surprise some bigger prey in the
shape Of a bird or q frog, for he
only eats worms aud such small fry
because they are easiest come by for
a carnivore of his figure, and Is
darkly suspected of outrages on
pheasants' eggs and infant rabbits
when occasion serves.
Water he likes, both to drink and
to battle in, and he is bold swim
mer on occasion, travelling fast and
strongly. and steering his course 50
well that some observers use this
fact as an argument against his sup
posed blindness His eyes are GER
tainly very small, while under ordi-
nary circumstances his nose Is prob
ably a better guide even on the sur
face, although he can undoubtedly
throw back to some extent the fur
about his minute eyes, so as to give
them the benefit of whatever seeing
power they have. In any case, sight
cannot be of very much use to moles.
One species of mole. the the Indian
short-tailed mole (Talpa micrura)
has added an improvement in short
ening its tail so much that ii does
not project from the fur--a mere
trihe. perhaps. but doubtless our
mole would be able TO say that even
an inch-long tail is liable ON occa-
sion To become "a handle to ILL
wishers." so that he has not quite
completed his evolution, in spite OF
the perfect shape of body and paws,
and the reversible fur which enables
him to move either way in his tun-
nels.
He's n Civil Engineer.
The mole has long been Justly
celebrated for his engineering feats
in the way of fortress-building
There is, of course. great deal OF
variation in detail. and, with the eX-
ception of what the artist has SO
well called "the emergency exit,