ht. I think he would be much
wiser to keep _always_ under ground, and then he would be quite safe. I
asked old Leatherwing how the mole could find out his food, as he
always lives in the dark, and he said that his nose is more useful to
him than his eyes, for he can smell anything at a great distance."

[8] That acute observer, Aristotle, has been accused of
inaccuracy, in saying, that the mole is absolutely blind. It
has, however, been ascertained that in the South of Europe there
exists another species of mole, the eyelids of which are _totally
closed_, and it was probably this animal that fell under the
observation of Aristotle. The mole has never been found in any
part of Ireland.

"And what can he find to eat under ground, I should like to know?"

"Horrible! I forgot all about that when I wished to be a mole. His
food, I can hardly bear even to talk about it! He lives almost entirely
on _worms_! Horrid, long, twining worms! Oh! I had rather be hunted by
the wild-cat every day, than eat such disgusting food as that. No, no,
I don't wish to change places with the mole now, I am sure."

So as Brush had neither the inclination nor the power to be transformed
into a worm-devourer, he was obliged to be content with his situation
as a _nut-cracker_.

CHAPTER VI.

Time passed rapidly on, and the autumn drew near. The young squirrels
were now become so strong and active, and so fond of scampering about,
that their parents could hardly prevent them from rambling away by
themselves much further than was safe for them. One morning Brush was
almost certain that he had seen their terrible enemy in a distant tree,
and as his children happened to be unusually frolicsome just then, and
determined to have their own way, he thought he would try to keep them
at home, by relating a little story which he had heard at different
times, from Leatherwing.

The old fellow said, that, one evening, as he was flying about in a
garden, he observed a very young lady sitting in a summer-house,
holding in her hand the smallest mouse he had ever seen, fastened by a
string and a leather collar round its neck. So, as the bat was of a
very inquisitive, prying disposition, he hung himself up to the ceiling
of the summer-house, determined to overhear the conversation that was
going on below. It appeared that the mouse was relating his adventures
to his mistress. Now to tell you the truth, this lit