The mole, (_fig. 82._) without being blind, has eyes so small, and so
concealed, that it can make but little use of seeing, but in recompence
Nature has supplied it with an ample portion of the sixth sense. Of all
animals the mole is the most profusely furnished with generic organs,
and of course with the relative sensations. The senses of hearing and
feeling it enjoys in an eminent degree; a skin as soft as velvet,
and its little paws, with five claws, are very different from other
quadrupeds, and nearly resemble the hand of a human being; they have
great strength in proportion to the size of their bodies, and so strong
and reciprocal an attachment subsists between the male and female, that
they seem to have a dread of, and a disgust to, all other society. They
enjoy the mild habitudes of solitude and repose; the art of securing
themselves, of instantaneously forming an asylum, of extending it,
and of obtaining a plentiful subsistence without a necessity for
relinquishing it. Such are the dispositions, manners, and talents,
of this animal, and they doubtless are preferable to qualities more
brilliant, which are perhaps more incompatible with happiness than even
an absolute deprivation of sight.
The mole shuts up the entrance to its retreat, which it seldom leaves,
unless forced by heavy rains, or it becomes demolished by man. It
prefers cultivated grounds, and is never to be found in those which
are muddy, hard, or stony; and delights in a soft soil, well supplied
with esculent roots, insects and worms, of which its principal
nourishment consists. As they seldom come above ground they have but
few enemies, and easily elude the pursuit of carnivorous animals.
Their greatest calamity is an inundation, and when that happens, they
are seen swimming in great numbers, and using every effort to save
themselves by reaching the high grounds; but the greatest part of them
perish, as well as their young who remain in the holes. Were it not for
such accidents, from their great fecundity, they would be extremely
incommodious to farmers. They couple at the beginning of spring, and
their young ones are found as early as May. They generally have four
or five at a time, and it is easy to distinguish the mole-hill under
which they have littered, as they are more elevated, and made with
greater art than the rest. I am inclined to think they bring forth
more than once a year, but I cannot absolutely assert it; this however
is certain, that young ones are met with from April to August, which,
however, may be owing to some coupling later in the year than others.
The hole in which they deposit their young is formed with singular
skill and deserves a particular description. They begin by raising
the earth and forming a tolerably ample roof, leaving divisions or
pillars at certain distances to support it, all round which they beat
and press the earth, interweave it with roots and plants, and render
it so firm that the water cannot penetrate it; the apartment in the
hillock is above the level of the ground, and therefore less subject to
accidents from slight inundations; under this they form another kind
of hill, upon the top of which they lay grass and leaves as a bed for
their young. Here they lay secure from wet, and the female proceeds
to make their retreat equally free from danger; for all round this
internal hillock she pierces holes still deeper, which part from the
middle apartment like rays from a centre, and extend about fifteen feet
in every direction; into these the mother makes her subterraneous
excursions, and from them supplies her young with roots and insects;
but they contribute still more to the general safety, for as the mole
is very quick of hearing, the instant she finds her habitation attacked
she takes to one of the burrows, and unless the earth be dug away by
several men at once, she and her young always make good their retreat.
Some authors have asserted that the mole and badger sleep the whole
winter: but that this is not true with respect to the badger, we have
already observed, from the traces which he leaves upon the snow; and
so far is the mole from sleeping the whole winter, that she continues
to raise the earth then as well as in the summer; and it is almost
proverbial with the peasantry of France, that "when the mole is at
work a thaw is at hand." They are indeed fond of warm places, and the
gardeners often catch them round their beds in the months of December,
January, and February. This animal is never to be met with in barren
deserts or cold climates, where the ground is frozen for the greatest
part of the year. The Siberian mole, with green and yellow hair, is of
a different species from our mole, which abounds only from Sweden to
Barbary; at least from the silence of travellers we may presume it is
not an inhabitant of hot climates. The moles of America, particularly
the red ones, are also different. The Virginian mole, however, is not
unlike ours, except in the colour of the hair, which is mixed with a
deep purple. In our common moles there are only two or three varieties;
some are more or less brown or black, and some few we have seen
entirely white. Seba mentions, and gives a figure of a mole with black
and white spots[P], which he found in East Friesland, and which was
rather larger than our moles.
[P] This mole, says he, was found on the highway. It is a little
longer than the common mole, from which it differs in no respect but
the colour of the skin, which is diversified on the back and the belly
with black and white spots, and these intermixed with a few grey hairs
as fine as silk. The snout of this animal is long, and covered with
hair of a considerable length; and its eyes are so small that it is
difficult to distinguish them.--_Albert Seba, vol. I. p. 63._
I received from M. Sonnerat the skin of what he calls the Mole of the
Cape of Good Hope (_fig. 83._) which bears a near resemblance to the
common moles, excepting the fore-feet and the head, which is much
larger, and has a snout somewhat like the Guinea Pig. Its hair is dark
brown, with yellow tips, which gives it a bright shade, and its tail
is covered with long hairs of a yellowish white. Upon the whole, I am
inclined to think that it cannot be considered as a simple variety, but
that it is a different species.
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._
[Illustration: FIG. 82. _Mole._]
[Illustration: FIG. 83. _Cape Mole._]
_Bats._
[Illustration: FIG. 84. _Long Ear'd._]
[Illustration: FIG. 85. _Pipistiell._]
[Illustration: FIG. 86. _Common Bat._]