Richard Williamson December 1
Immediately the mole surfaced and shooting forward like a chameleon's tongue caught the worm by the tail, burrowing out of sight within a few seconds, gripping its prize.
That prize might as well be a mouse, shrew, lizard, frog or small bird. A nest of young skylarks for instance would be eaten by "the gentleman in black," also called "glutton, bully, pig, and nuisance".
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Hide AdMoles interested the Victorians, who likened them to the hard-working but conveniently silent underground army of coalminers that maintained the wealth of the cities.
(DROPCAP_3]Moles were frequently kept in captivity, being easily tamed and biddable like a dog to food. Then the rapacious appetite could be observed easily. One captive mole, within 24 hours, devoured a large slowworm, a large snail, two chrysalids and a snake 32 inches log, leaving only the skin, bones and shell.
Richard Williamson's Nature Trails appears every week in the WSG. To read the full version of this article, see December 1 issue.