MAMMALS. 8l 



It did not eat it immediately but laid it down and 

 watched it till, seeing signs of returning animation, it 

 again seized it and repeated the drowning operation. 

 The man went on with his work, and when he again 

 looked up the Heron had bolted the Vole whole, and it 

 could be plainly seen as a great swelling gradually 

 descending the long thin neck of the bird ! The Water 

 Vole comes abroad by day more than most other British 

 Mammals, but only in the morning and evening, always 

 retiring to its burrow as long as the sun is high in the 

 heavens. The tail is proportionately longer than in the 

 other Voles, measuring over one-third of the total length 

 12 inches. The hind limbs are much longer than the 

 fore-legs, which last are used chiefly for holding food. 

 The female has usually five or six young which she nurses 

 in an under-ground nest of dry grass, &c., and when they 

 are old enough to run, they accompany her in her 

 excursions abroad. On such occasions when threatened 

 with danger, she has been known to convey them to a 

 place of safety by carrying them in her mouth, just as 

 a cat does her kittens. 



HARE. The existence of the Hare in this country is, like 

 Lefius Europceus. that of the Fox, to a certain extent 



artificial, and it is probable that, had 

 it not been for the protection formerly afforded it by the 

 Game Laws, it would have been ere now locally extinct, 

 or at any rate very rare. During the few years that have 

 elapsed since the last Ground Game Act came into force, 

 it has almost disappeared from many areas of cultivated 

 ground where it used to be plentiful. It still holds its 

 own however in the more hilly parts of the County. 

 Unlike its cousin, the Rabbit, the Hare does not live 



