356 SOME OBSERVATIONS ON BRITISH MICE. 



which forms the sheltered bed where the owner takes his 

 repose. 



Though in a general way mankind can afford to ignore this 

 insignificant little creature, there are occasions when he 

 becomes a very mischievous pest. The two most deadly 

 enemies of the short-tailed field-vole are drought and floods : 

 in dry seasons they perish for want of water, and when the 

 low-lying meadows are overflowed they are drowned in 

 their thousands. It sometimes happens that the season hits 

 the happy medium, and as the voles are very prolific, and 

 bring forth from four to six at a time, and have three or 

 four litters a year, their numbers increase prodigiously. An 

 instance of this taking place is recorded in the Book of 

 Samuel, where we are told of the mice that marred the land 

 of the Philistines ; but in more modern times as well, they 

 have made themselves conspicuous. 



In the years 1813 and 1814, shortly after the formation of 

 the royal plantations in the Forest of Dean and in the New 

 Forest in Hampshire, a rapid increase in the number of 

 voles threatened the existence of the young trees. Vast 

 numbers of saplings were destroyed by having the bark 

 stripped from them, and also by having the roots bitten 

 through when they happened to block the way in the 

 burrows of the swarming myriads. So great was the devasta- 

 tion, that Government was forced to step in and take mea- 

 sures for the protection of the forests. Various plans were 

 tried ; poison was laid, traps were set, and the help of puss 

 was sought for and obtained, but to very little purpose. At 

 last it was suggested that pits should be dug, which should 

 be made wider at the bottom than at the top, and whose 

 sides would therefore be too steep to climb. Numbers of 

 such pits were dug accordingly, and into these the little 

 vermin fell in such numbers that in the two districts 60,000 



