DEAR children, I purpose to write you a number of short papers, if the Lord will, about certain little animals whose ways are exceedingly interesting. Some of these live underground, others are fond of water, the while others again delight to scramble amongst the trees. The Mole is the first I will describe, for perhaps he is the most peculiar and striking in his habits amongst the underground dwellers.
You and I like the bright sunshine, and we love to gaze on beautiful green fields. Not so the Mole; he loves darkness. God has fitted him for a special mode of life in which good sight is not much needed, and where, if he had eyes, like a rat or similar animals, they would be to him a source of constant pain.
The Mole is a wonderful little workman, not more than six or seven inches in length; and his body, paws, head, and snout all testify that he is made to burrow under the ground. His body is the shape of a cylinder. His head and forepart, larger than behind, very strong; and the muscles by which he works, very powerful. There is a peculiar bone too in his snout, which greatly helps him in penetrating the ground; but, as you will see in the picture, he seems to have nothing in the shape of a neck; you will see by the engraving of the front paw how well it is fitted to scoop out the soil, which with its hind feet it casts behind it. The Mole then lives underground, where he makes a wonderful little fortress; and from this a great number of galleries or tunnels which have been properly called his hunting-ground. He works with great rapidity; place him on a lawn, and give him time to half bury himself, and he will be a clever man that can with a spade prevent his getting away into the earth. The only tools he has to work with are his queer-shaped snout and his fore feet or hands; with these he scratches away the earth in front of him and flings it behind him, and in this way he will often work his way through very hard soil. His skin has to bear a lot of hard rubbing, of course and here we may easily see how well God has suited the Mole for his peculiar way of living; as indeed God has all the creatures He has made. But there are two striking features about his skin which greatly help the underground digger. It is so tough, that it requires a very sharp knife to cut it, and then it is covered with a beautifully soft and exceedingly thick fur, far richer than any velvet can be made. This tough skin and rich fur enable it to endure an immense amount of friction in working out his many tunnels and in constantly running through them without receiving any injury, and at the same time prevent any earth or mud clinging to him: so that though he lives in dirt he is himself always beautifully clean. Except he is attacked or flooded out by water, the Mole seldom comes to the surface till after the sun has gone down. His eyes are made for darkness, not for the blaze of light; indeed at first sight he seems to have none, for they are very small, completely hidden by the thick fur and in the light he closes them so tightly that it is quite impossible to find them.
The little engraving we give you herewith will enable you to form some idea of the wonderful fortress and hunting grounds of this little industrious excavator.
Its fortress consists of a central chamber hollowed out in the shape of a dome, which has been beaten so hard by the architects as to make it impervious to the water. It is not easy to describe the shape and make of this habitation. A circular gallery is formed at the base and communicates with a small upper gallery by means of five passages. Within the lower and under the upper of these galleries, is the chamber, which is connected with the upper gallery by three similar passages. From this lower chamber another road is seen extending downwards a few inches, when it again rises and joins one of the main high roads. From this habitation high roads are excavated and extend in opposite directions, sometimes to a great distance; and again from these high roads a great number of smaller alleys branch off in all directions. These are the hunting-grounds of the Mole; so that you see though he be a little creature he loves a large house and plenty of domain to roam in. The Mole. is fond of a solitary life and lives alone most of the year, the male and female coming together but for a short time twice a year, after which they again resume their solitary life. The female makes with great care a separate nest for her young, whom she watches and feeds with solicitude. The nursery of the female is quite as ingenious as the home of the male; it is always placed at a point where many galleries meet, is very large and the roof sustained by pillars at equal distances from each other. This is made dry, warm, and comfortable by a thick layer of herbage and leaves.
The "little gentleman in black," as he is sometimes called, is said to be very brave, and will fight hard in defense of his home, young ones, and grounds. His many queer passages, give him a great advantage when attacked, for he can scarcely ever be driven into a corner, and he can run as fast underground as his pursuers can above it. He is moreover a wonderfully voracious animal, living altogether on insects and other small creatures, but he especially loves the earth-worm. It has forty-four teeth, which never cease working from morning to night. Its sense of hunger is much like a frenzy, and when it attacks an animal larger than itself it instantly bores its snout into it's body, almost burying itself, and will speedily eat up the whole carcass. It is a perfect eating machine, and said to be the most voracious eater in the world, A French naturalist once said if we could magnify the mole into the size of an elephant, we should be face to face with the most terrific brute the world ever knew.
The greatest enemy the Mole has is the farmer. There has long been a conviction that he does a great amount of mischief and every effort has been made to exterminate him. No doubt he does some damage; but others contend he does an immense amount of good, that in fact he is the farmer's best friend. This point, however, I will not undertake to settle.
You must not mistake the little hills of fresh earth you see thrown up as true mole-hills; they are simply tracks he has made in pursuing some worm near the surface, but the moment he sees the light, back he goes into the earth as quickly as possible. The hill that contains the nest or house is much larger and generally out of sight, under roots, or bushes, or in some sheltered place. The Mole also must be well supplied with water, for such voracious eating makes him very thirsty. And here again his ingenuity serves him well. If he be near water he will run round a tunnel direct to it; but if not he will dig deep water-tight pits, by which he secures a constant supply. In very dry weather, however, he finds it impossible to gather meat or drink near the surface, for all insects must have water, and both worms and moles have to make their way deep into the earth.
Did you ever hear that a mole-hill caused the death of an English King? The horse of King William the Third stumbled on one, by which his royal master was thrown and killed.
The Mole until about eighty years ago had the reputation of being blind and deaf, because neither eyes nor ears could be seen, but it was proved by a celebrated French courtier that it can both see and hear. His name was Henry le Court, who, having fled from the horrors of the French Revolution, gave himself up to the study of this interesting little animal, about which he has given many instructive details and quite a history of his habits. To settle the question as to the Mole being able to hear, and the rapidity with which it can travel, he placed a number of little flags of paper attached to straws at certain distances, the straws penetrating into the highway along which the Mole would have to run in reaching its fortress. Near the end of this road, when he knew the Mole was at its furthest point, he inserted a horn, the mouth-piece of which stood out of the ground. No sooner had he blown a blast than down went one flag after another with amazing rapidity, as the poor frightened Mole rushed along his subterranean passage to secure safety in his fortress.
I should think the Count found much more real pleasure in watching the habits of such little creatures than he had ever found in the vain and crowded halls of a fashionable French court.