THE CAMPAGNOL, OR SHORT-TAILED FIELD MOUSE, 459 



snub-nosed, short-eared, yellow-toothed Vole engaged in eating animal food, although the 

 brown Rat may be often detected in such an act. 



Many communications have been made to me on the subject, written for the most part by 

 persons who have seen water-side Rats engaged in catching and eating fish, and have thought 

 that the delinquents were the true Water Vole. Indeed, the Vole is allied very closely to the 

 beaver, and partakes of the vegetarian character of that animal. 



However guiltless the Water Vole may be of piscicapture, it is not altogether a harmless 

 animal, for, independently of weakening the banks by its tunnels, it will sometimes leave the 

 water-side and travel some little distance across the country in search of cultivated vegetables. 

 One of these animals has been seen to cross a large field and enter a garden in which some French 

 beans were growing. The Vole crept up the bean-stalks, and after cutting off several of the pods 

 with its sharp and scissor-like teeth, picked them up and retraced its steps to its home. 



The color of the Water Vole is a chestnut-brown, dashed with gray on the upper parts 

 and fading to gray below. The ears are so short that they are hardly perceptible above the 

 fur. The incisor teeth are of a light yellow, and are very thick and strong. The tail is shorter 

 than that of the common Rat, hardly exceeding half the length of the head and body. The 

 average length of a full-grown Water Vole is thirteen inches, the tail being about four inches 

 and three-quarters long. It is not so prolific an animal as the brown Rat, breeding only twice 

 in the year, and producing from five to six young at a birth. 



THE CAMPAGNOL, or SHORT-TAILED FIELD MOUSE, is even more destructive in the open 

 meadows than the common gray mouse in the barns or ricks ; for not contenting itself with 

 plundering the ripened crops of autumn, it burrows beneath the ground at sowing-time, and 

 devours the seed-wheat which has just been laid in the earth. Besides these open-air depre- 

 dations, it makes inroads into ricks and barns, and by dint of multitudinous numbers does very 

 great harm. As its food is entirely of a vegetable nature, it does not enter human habitations, 

 where it would find but a poor chance of a livelihood. 



The color of the Campagnol is ruddy brown on the upper surface of the body, and gray on 

 the abdomen and chest. The ears are rounded and very small, closely resembling those of the 

 water vole. The tail is only one-third the length of the body, and the total length of the animal 

 is rather more than five inches. As it belongs to the same genus as the water vole, and is very 

 closely related to that animal, it sometimes goes by the name of Field Vole. 



It is a very prolific animal, and its numbers are almost incredibly great in districts where 

 no means have been taken for its destruction. Even in well-cultivated fields, whether of grass 

 or corn, the Campagnol may be found in vast quantities by any one whose eyes are sufficiently 

 accustomed to the task to distingiiish the little creature from the earth on which it moves. 



It creeps so easily through the green herbage that it scarcely stirs the blades ; and it is so 

 similar in its color to the earth as it shows between the leaves, that none but a practised eye 

 can detect them. There is hardly any sign to tell of its presence, except an undefined sense of 

 something red among the grass, which, unless it be immediately pounced upon, fades again 

 into brown, and the thing is gone. 



The Campagnol is a water-loving creature, and is oftener found in marshy ground than in 

 meadows which are elevated above the level of the neighboring lands and ditches. A dry 

 summer is very trying to these animals, and a long-continued drought is fatal to hundreds 

 of them. 



The Field Vole carries its destructive powers even into woods and plantations, and is often 

 the unknown cause by which some cherished young tree has drooped, withered and died. 

 These little animals are good bnrrowers, and are in the habit of digging into the ground, and 

 nibbling the living roots of trees and shrubs. Sometimes the mice attack the bark, and by 

 completely stripping it from the circumference of the tree, destroy it as effectually as if it had 

 been cut down with an axe. 



THERE is another species of Field Mouse, in which the tail is much longer in proportion, 

 and the dimensions are altogether smaller. This is the BANK VOLE, or BANK CAMPAGNOL, 



