124 PROTECTION AGAINST ANIMALS. 



Chiefly beech and oak-mast and hazel-nuts are eaten, and 

 autumn-sowings suffer more than those made in the spring. 



In winter, and when the snow is on the ground, they gnaw 

 buds, tender shoots, bark and sapwood of young forest plants, 

 from 2 to 15 years old. Broadleaved species chiefly suffer, 

 such as hornbeam, beech, ash, maple, hazel, sallow, and also 

 oak, elm, aspen, etc. Handsome thorn-trees are often girdled 

 by them. They gnaw the bark of plants up to 3 feet and 

 higher from the ground, somewhat higher than voles, from 

 which they can be distinguished in this way. Young stems 

 up to 2 inches in diameter at the base are often gnawed 

 through, and promising cultivations are thus ruined. 



By their burrowing, many plants are uprooted and die, 

 but this kind of damage is done on a much greater scale by 

 voles. 



Mice are chiefly destructive on sunny aspects in young woods 

 full of grass undergrowth. Their powers of reproduction in 

 dry summers are quite extraordinary. 



Kats are frequently destructive to forests in India. There 

 was a plague of rats in Berar, in 190'2, described by E. E. 

 Fernandez (Indian Forester, April). They destroyed cotton 

 goods and grain and gnawed the bark of teak, up to 3 feet 

 in girth, also of Butea frondosa, the lac tree, and other 

 species. 



2. Protective Rules. 



These are about the same as against voles, and will 

 therefore be given in full further on, but as the long-tailed 

 field-mouse lives in forests throughout the year, it is more 

 difficult to ward against its attacks than against those of voles, 

 which come from the fields into the forest during winter. The 

 chief remedy is to protect its enemies, the stoat, weasel, fox, 

 owls, etc. 



SECTION VII. VOLES. 



Voles are distinguished from mice by their thicker, shorter 

 head, by having ears buried in their fur, short legs and tail ; 

 true mice having a pointed head, large ears and a long tail. 



