THE WATER-VOLE AND FISH. 



A TRUE water-vole, will do no harm to fish, as 

 this animal feeds almost exclusively on vegetable 

 substances, although he will gnaw bones. I can 

 safely say that he will not touch fish, as I have 

 tried a tame specimen with both dead and living 

 fish, minnows and small gudgeon, and he takes 

 no notice of them. The common brown rat, how- 

 ever, frequently migrates to the waterside during 

 the summer, and is a most destructive enemy to 

 fish. I remember once while ferreting rats, by the 

 banks of a small brook, finding no less than fourteen 

 gudgeon stored away in a burrow, from the interior 

 of which soon afterwards bolted an old rat with 

 several well-grown young ones. The common rat 

 is also a determined enemy to the water-vole, and 

 takes every opportunity of attacking it, as it is 

 as much at home in the water as its antagonist. 

 The poor voles generally get the worst of it in 

 these conflicts, as it is by no means a fighting 

 animal, and commonly lives a happy and contented 

 life by the banks of reedy streams and pools, where 

 plenty of shelter is to be obtained. 



