136 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



inches wide at the mouth, I 5 inches wide at the bottom, and 

 1 8 inches deep. These were placed at a distance of from 

 12 to 20 feet apart. 



On the other hand the head-keeper at Drumlanrig said 

 that pitfalls had been tried without much success in the 

 extensive plantations at that place. 



As a remedy on sheep -farms, pitfalls were graphically 

 appraised thus by Mr. Whittle : " How many holes . . . 

 would it take to cover my farm of 7600 acres, and what 

 would be the cost ? " 



The same objection — namely, the nature and extent of 

 the ground affected — applies to the proposal of other 

 expedients which have been resorted to in various parts 

 of the Continent, viz. passing a heavy roller over the 

 ground, trampling it with cavalry, inundating it, injecting 

 water, steam, or noxious fumes into the runs. All of these 

 may be dismissed as wholly impracticable. 



Large numbers of voles were destroyed on some farms 

 by men and dogs. The vole is extremely rapid in its 

 movements and difficult to hit with a stick. A more 

 effective weapon is a wooden implement shaped like a small 

 spade. 



The tenant of West Buccleuch, in Selkirkshire, killed by 

 this means 13,000 in three months on 3000 acres; the 

 tenant of Glenkerry (3000 acres) employed a man who killed 

 15,000 in one month, or about 450 per diem. The tenant 

 of Langshawburn hired a man with 1 2 terriers, who killed 

 from 400 to 600 a day on 4260 acres. In addition he 

 turned out 100 cats, and by the end of June 1892 reported 

 that there was not one vole for every 100 that there had 

 been on his ground. 



There can be little doubt that simultaneous and com- 

 bined action of this sort on the part of owners and occupiers, 

 aided by timely and judicious burning in the earlier stages 

 of the outbreak, is the most effective method of staying the 

 ravages of the plague. Unfortunately, not only have these 

 exertions been hitherto isolated and intermittent, but they 

 have been delayed until the voles were swarming over a 

 considerable extent of ground. 



