nd clumsy as the sloth when placed on level ground, or the seal
when brought ashore. Replace it in the familiar earth and it becomes
a different being, full of life and energy, and actuated by a fiery
activity which seems quite inconsistent with its dull aspect and
seemingly inert form.

We all know that the mole burrows under the ground, raising at
intervals the little hillocks or "mole hills" with which we are
so familiar; but most of us little know the extent or variety of
its tunnels, or that the animal works on a regular system and does
not burrow here and there at random. How it manages to form its
burrows in such admirably straight lines, is not an easy problem,
because it is always done in black darkness, and we know of nothing
which can act as a guide to the animal. As for ourselves and other
eye-possessing creatures, the feat of walking in a straight line
with closed eyelids is almost an impossibility, and every swimmer
knows the difficulty of keeping a straight course under water,
even with the use of his eyes.

The ordinary mole hills, so plentiful in our fields, present nothing
particularly worthy of notice. They are merely the shafts through
which the quadruped miner ejects the material which it has scooped
out, as it drives its many tunnels through the soil, and if they
be carefully opened after the rain has consolidated the heap of
loose material, nothing more will be discovered than a simple hole
leading into the tunnel. But let us
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strike into one of the large tunnels, as any mole catcher will
teach us, and follow it up to the real abode of the animal. The
hill under which this domicile is hidden, is of considerable size,
but is not very conspicuous, being always placed under the shelter of
a tree, shrub, or a suitable bank, and would scarcely be discovered
but by a practiced eye. The subterranean abode within the hillock
is so remarkable that it involuntarily reminds the observer of the
well-known "maze," which has puzzled the earliest years of youth
throughout many generations. The central apartment, or "keep,"
if we so term it, is a nearly spherical chamber, the roof of which
is almost on a level with the earth around the hill, and therefore
situated at a considerable depth from the apex of the heap. Around
this keep are driven two circular passages or galleries, one just
level with the ceiling and the other at some height above. Five
short descending passages connect the galleries wit