e hillock at irregular distances, leading from the
lower gallery, through which the mole hunts its prey, and which it
constantly enlarges. During this process it throws up the hillocks which
betray its vicinity to us. The great road is of various depths,
according to the quality of the soil in which it is excavated; it is
generally five or six inches below the surface, but if carried under a
stream, or pathway, it will be occasionally sunk a foot and a half. If
the hillock be very extensive there will be several high-roads, and they
will serve for several moles, but they never trespass on each other's
hunting grounds. If they happen to meet in a road, one is obliged to
retreat, or they have a battle, in which the weakest always comes off
the worst. In a barren soil, the searching galleries are the most
numerous, and those made in winter are the deepest, because the worms
penetrate beyond the line of frost, and the mole is as active in winter
as in warm weather.

The females have a separate chamber made for them, in which they bring
forth their young. This is situated at some distance from the citadel,
and placed where three or four galleries intersect each other. There
they have a bed made of dry grass, or fibres of roots, and four or five
young are born at the same time, which begin to get their own food when
they are half grown.

Like all voracious animals, moles require a large quantity of water,
consequently their run, or fortress, generally communicates with a ditch
or pond. Should these dry up, or the situation be without such
resources, the little architect sinks perpendicular wells, which retain
the water as it drains from the soil.

Moles shift their quarters according to circumstances, and as they swim
well, they migrate across rivers; and in sudden inundations are able,
not to save themselves alone, but their young, to which they are much
attached. The stratagem and caution which they practise in order to
secure a bird are highly curious: they approach without seeming to do
so, but as soon as they are within reach of their prey, they rush upon
it, tear open its body, thrust their snout into the intestines, and
revel in their sanguinary feast. They then sleep for three or four
hours, and awake with renewed appetite.

All mole-catchers will bear testimony to the rapid movements and
consequent difficulty of catching these animals. I have watched a
gardener stand for half an hour by one of the little hillocks