140 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



policy will greatly reduce in numbers, have done excellent 

 service in digging up the voles' nests and devouring the young. 



Mr. Service of Maxwelltown drew attention to a change 

 which had taken place in the habit of rooks in his neighbour- 

 hood during the last ten years, having " developed most 

 marked carnivorous habits, taking eggs, young birds, young 

 poultry, young hares and rabbits to an extent they never did 

 before." Simultaneously with this manifestation of carrion 

 crow-like habits, Mr. Service had noted an increase in the 

 number of rooks with feathered faces like the carrion crow, 

 which he was inclined to connect with the change in their 

 diet. (See Stevenson's Birds of Norfolk, vol. i. pp. 274- 

 275.) . . . 



This alleged modification in the habits of the rook, though 

 favourable to the farmer, has not unreasonably brought him 

 into evil repute with game-preservers. 



Amongst other birds which have been observed to prey 

 on voles are certain species of sea-gull. 



Stoats and weasels are among the deadliest and most 

 persevering enemies of small rodents. They kill far more 

 than they can devour, apparently out of sheer blood-thirstiness. 

 In woodlands and on low ground they undoubtedly do much 

 harm to game, especially the stoat, which may be easily 

 distinguished from the weasel (known in Scotland as the 

 " whittret ") by its greater size and by the black tuft at the 

 end of the tail, which is retained at all seasons of the year, 

 even in winter, when the rest of the body becomes wholly or 

 partially white. 



Adders feed readily on voles, and in July 1892 the chair- 

 man of your Committee was present when one was killed 

 with a vole in its gullet. This was in Wigtownshire, where 

 no abnormal increase in the number of voles has been 

 observed. But a single adder would probably not kill more 

 than one animal of the size of a vole in a single day — so 

 there is no reason to extend protection to these venomous 

 reptiles. 



Some naturalists aver that the mole preys upon voles, but 

 your Committee, though directing inquiries upon this point, 

 were unable to elicit any evidence tending to confirm this 

 belief. 



