HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



157 



field-mouse, and the water-rat has also been accused 

 of occasionally exhibiting similar tastes. There can 

 however be little doubt but that by far the greater 

 proportion of the food of all three species is of a vege- 

 table nature. When angry these little creatures make 

 a great fuss, grinding their teeth and using their 

 voice very freely, which may be described as a short 

 grunting squeak, neither so sharp nor so prolonged 

 as that of Litis sylvatiais or musculus. In quarrel- 

 ling their actions are ludicrous in the extreme : they 

 dodge round each other in a perfectly upright 

 attitude, hopping on their hind legs, and now and 

 then nearly throwing themselves over backwards in 

 endeavouring to avoid each other's attacks, the fore- 

 paws being held stretched out before the face for 

 protection. There is a great deal of fuss, and much 

 squeaking and grinding of teeth, but very little comes 



companions ; but they evidently lack the power oJ 

 jumping long distances from branch to branch, 

 possessed in such perfection by the squirrels and 

 dormice. A female killed by a cat, July 4th, 1884, 

 contained five young, which to all appearance would 

 have been born almost immediately ; probably, how- 

 ever, this species breeds much earlier in the year than 

 this, and, like A. agrestis, has several litters during the 

 spring and summer mouths. According to the writer 

 last quoted, they breed from twice to four times, 

 producing from four to eight in a litter. A word as to 

 traps may be acceptable to some of your readers. I 

 have caught bank-voles in various kinds of traps, but 

 have found nothing answer better than a larger make 

 of the common (live) mousetrap with a slanting 

 door. If the usual small-sized penny trap be used, 

 the bait-hook must be shifted one wire farther from 

















limit 



fat 



Fig. 101. — The Bank-Vole {Arvicola rufescens, De Selys, firatensis, Baillon). 



of it all, and in general they are peaceable and gentle 

 in their ways. They are remarkably quick and 

 active in their movements, the usual manner of pro- 

 gression being a succession of short jerky runs, very 

 bird-like in character, and not unlike the action of 

 the hedge-sparrow when on the 'ground. They are 

 most expert climbers, and quite at home among the 

 branches and twigs of hedges and bushes. Many 

 years before I had become personally acquainted 

 with the appearance and habits of this pretty and 

 interesting little animal, I saw what I have now 

 little doubt was a bank-vole, climbing about in a 

 whitethorn fence in this parish, probably in search 

 of haws. (Dormice do not occur here.) Last summer 

 I kept three bank-voles with a pair of dormice in a 

 very large bell glass, having a superstructure of wire 

 gauze in which a rough bush was fixed for them to 

 climb about on : this they often made use of, and 

 ran up and down with almost as much agility as their 



the mouth, so as to give greater length to the trap, 

 otherwise the hind-quarters of the captive will be 

 crushed by the falling door ; but even with this 

 alteration the trap is not large enough, and it is far 

 better to use a bigger one. There is a useful trap 

 for this purpose in form somewhat like a toast-rack, 

 with a small wire falling door at each end, the floor 

 being of wood ; one advantage of which is that it 

 may be easily covered up and kept dry and warm, 

 should the night prove wet or frosty ; in which case 

 the little prisoner would (without such protection) 

 almost certainly be found in a few hours dead and 

 stiff. For bait nothing is better than a crust of 

 bread ; a soaked pea or even a bit of cheese will 

 also be found attractive. A very few hempseeds 

 scattered about the entrance of the trap serve as a 

 useful ground-bait. 



G. T. Rope. 

 Blaxhall, Suffolk. 



