The dogs, supposing that they happened to be of the right breed, would
have a better chance of securing the robber, providing that they
intercepted its retreat to the water. But if the water-vole should
succeed in gaining its burrow, or in plunging into the stream, I doubt
whether any dog would be able to catch it.
Moreover, the water-vole is so clever in tunnelling, that when it drives
its burrows into cultivated ground, it almost invariably conceals the
entrance under a heap of stones, a wood pile, or some similar object.
How it is enabled to direct the course of its burrow we cannot even
conjecture, except by attributing the faculty to that "most excellent
gift" which we call by the convenient name of "instinct."
Man has no such power, but when he wishes to drive a tunnel in any given
direction he is obliged to avail himself of levels, compasses,
plumb-lines, and all the paraphernalia of the engineer. Yet, with
nothing to direct it except instinct, the water-vole can, though working
in darkness, drive its burrow in any direction and emerge from the
ground exactly at the spot which it has selected.
The mole can do the same, and by means equally mysterious.
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