206 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



spread most of his come there ; but they only stayed a day or 

 two and then evanished, he not knowing whence they came 

 or whither they went." 



BROWN RAT, Mus decumanus. Everywhere too common and de- 

 structive. Very dark specimens have been captured in the 

 neighbourhood of Lochmaben. I have yellow skins from Dal- 

 beattie, but these probably originated from some pet breed. 

 Extraordinary swarms of Rats are found at the base of the rocky 

 parts of the shore, where they find a sufficiency of food in shell- 

 fish and remains thrown up by the sea. 



SHORT-TAILED FIELD VOLE, Microtus agrestis. This notorious little 

 quadruped is of very general distribution from the shore to the 

 very summits of our highest hills. The recent " plague " 

 beginning in the autumn of 1887 and reaching its maximum in 

 June 1893, thereafter diminishing very rapidly till within a few 

 months later, when it would have been difficult to find one in- 

 dividual where so recently they were in millions made the name 

 of Vole very familiar to the public. " Plagues," on a very small 

 scale, are quite familiar to close observers of this species. One 

 very marked recurrence of this kind was on Rough Island, at 

 the mouth of the river Urr, where, in the summer of 1894, the 

 pasture, consisting of about nine acres, was completely de- 

 vastated by the ravages of Voles. 



BANK VOLE, Microtus glareolus. A very common and widely dis- 

 tributed species, but not so partial to the open fields, moors, 

 and meadows as its congener, the Short-tailed Vole. It is at 

 times most destructive from its habit of barking the trees and 

 bushes. It is also a most annoying pest in gardens, where it is 

 very fond of eating the crops of early vegetables, especially 

 those sown under the glass of frames and pits for early use. 



WATER VOLE, Microtus amphibius. Very common along every 

 watercourse and by the loch margins. A most marked increase 

 of this species was noticed during the Vole Plague. The 

 black varieties occur in all shades, from dark brown to glossy 

 jet black. Pied varieties also occur, and I have one or two 

 pretty skins of these in my collection. Spotted variations are 

 more rare, but the late Dr. Grierson of Thornhill possessed a 

 most remarkable series of these. 



COMMON HARE, Lepus Europceus. Vastly scarcer than in former 

 days, is the verdict over much of our area, but still showing in 

 fair numbers where the estates are sufficiently extensive to allow 

 of effective preservation being exerted. 



MOUNTAIN HARE, Lepus timidus. The earliest record of the 

 Mountain Hare in Dumfriesshire was in 1860, when some few 

 were shot on Queensberry. Since then it spread rapidly east- 



