THE SHORT-TAILED FIELD VOLE 



to see the well-used main roads, and the side 

 lanes, with blind alleys again off them, which 

 are the spots where the mice go to feed. By 

 continually nibbling the grass at the end of 

 these blind passages they extend their tunnels, 

 and, as I said before, eat out their roads before 

 them. 



The meadow vole is quite different from our 

 other mice ; it is a small furry person with its 

 ears buried in its long coat. It has small but 

 keen eyes, a somewhat short head, a stumpy 

 body, and a mere scrap of a tail. In all 

 respects it is the exact opposite of the long, 

 slender, large-eyed, big-eared, active, long- 

 tailed field mouse. The mouse looks like a 

 gentleman of high degree, but the little vole 

 in its rough, dingy-looking, brown coat, is but a 

 commonplace little fellow. The meadow vole 

 has more, but still not a great deal, in common 

 with its distant cousin, the bank vole. How- 

 ever, they are not very alike; the bright 

 chestnut colour of the latter should at once 

 save any confusion between the two kinds. 

 The creature that the meadow vole is like is 

 the water rat (which should be called the water 

 vole), for it, too, is a rough furry animal, with 

 short ears and a short tail, but it is so much 



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