iib Lloyd's natural insTORY. 



other remains of the depredators. The sheep were in deplor- 

 able case; several had died; and the emaciated ewes, too weak 

 to make good nurses, suckled their lambs with difficulty. 

 Numbers of these had perished in consequence, and the sur- 

 vivors were poor and weakly." 



In 1892 another alarming plague of Voles made its appear- 

 ance in the south of Scotland, the districts chiefly affected 

 being the northern boundary of Dumfriesshire, east of Thorn- 

 hill, and the north-west of Roxburgh, where between 80,000 

 and 90,000 acres are reported to have been affected. The 

 border-districts in the south of Selkirk, Peebles, and Lanark, 

 as well as the parishes of Carpshain and Dairy, in the extreme 

 north of the stewardry of Kirkcudbright, suffered in a minor 

 degree. Reportin^^ on the plague in Roxburgh, Mr. R. F. 

 Dudgeon writes as follows : — 



"The districts of this county affected by the plague are the 

 west and south-west portions of Teviotdale adjoining the coun- 

 ties of Selkirk and Dumfries, and the south-west portion of 

 Liddesdale. The gross area of the farms seriously affected may 

 be stated as between 30,000 and 40,000 acres. 



"The Voles, although more or less numerous than usual for 

 the previous two years, multiplied to an alarming extent during 

 the spring and summer of 189 1. A correspondent in Teviot- 

 dale describes them as now swarming in millions. They 

 apparently first attack the deeper boggy and rough pasture- 

 lands, which are destroyed to the extent of nearly four-fifths 

 of their area ; one-half of the area of the hill-farms in the dis- 

 tricts named may be said to be in bog or rough pasture, and I 

 think that I should not be far wrong in stating that some 

 12,000 to 15,000 acres have been rendered entirely useless by 

 reason of the plague. As the bog or rough pasture becomes 

 foul or exhausted, the Voles spread to the barer lea-land, and 

 even to the heather, which they bark, at the same time biting 



