Of this animal there are several species; they burrow in the earth, and
form avenues from one nest to another, like the crossing streets of a
city. Their eyes are small, and so buried in fur as to be invisible,
except on close inspection.
_Mole-Catching._--It has been a common opinion that moles were
destructive to the crops; and in Europe, much pains have been taken to
destroy them. The mole-catcher--in general a quiet old man, who passes
his winter in making his traps, in the chimney-corner--comes forth, in
the spring, with his implements of destruction. His practised eye soon
discovers the tracks of the mole, from the mound which he throws up to
some neighboring bank, or from one mound to another. It is in this
track, or run, that he sets his trap, a few inches below the surface of
the ground. As the mole passes through this little engine of his ruin,
he disturbs a peg which holds down a strong hazel rod in a bent
position. The moment the peg is moved, the end of the rod which is held
down flies up, and with it comes up the poor mole, dragged out of the
earth which he has so ingeniously excavated, to be gibbeted, without a
chance of escape.
There was a Frenchman, of the name of Le Court, who died a few years
since,--a man of great knowledge and perseverance, and who did not
think it beneath him to devote his whole attention to the observation
of the mole. He established a school for mole-catching; and taught many
what he had acquired by incessant perseverance--the art of tracing the
mole to his hiding-place in the ground, and cutting off his retreat.
The skill of this man once saved, as was supposed, a large and fertile
district of France from inundation by a canal, whose banks the moles
had undermined in every direction.
More recently, it has been doubted whether moles are really so
mischievous to the farmer as has been supposed. It is said that they
assist in draining the land, and thus prevent the foot-rot in sheep.
Mr. Hogg, the Ettrick shepherd, says, "If a hundred men and horses were
employed on a common-sized pasture-farm--say from 1500 to 2000
acres--in raising and draining manure for a top-dressing to the land,
they would not do it so effectually, so equally, and so neatly, as the
natural number of moles on the farm would do for themselves."
Moles are said to be very ferocious animals; and, as an evidence of
this, we are told that a mole, a toad, and a viper, were enclosed in a
glass case; the mole despatched the other two, and devoured a great
part of both of them.