62 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



miscalled, it would probably suffer less persecu- 

 tion ; but the very name of rat is quite sufficient 

 to warrant its destruction by those who are too 

 ignorant to know better. 



The front (incisor) teeth of the water-vole are 

 similar to those of the ordinary rat, the squirrel, 

 hare, rabbit, and mouse, all of which animals 

 belong to the order called Rodentia, or Rodents. 

 These teeth are singularly adapted for gnawing, 

 their shape and action being like that of an adze 

 a tool much used by wheelwrights ; and it is 

 by them that the rodents are distinguishable from 

 all other animals. From the foregoing, it may be 

 seen that the water-vole, although a rodent, is 

 no more a rat than it is a squirrel, despite its 

 similarity in appearance at first sight to a rat. 

 A hare is a rodent, so also is a rabbit ; they 

 'are similar in shape, and their habits are, so far 

 as their food is concerned, alike, but there the 

 similarity ends The one burrows, the other does 

 not ; and whereas the flesh of the one is white 

 when cooked, that of the other is brown. There 

 is thus a very marked difference between the two, 

 apart from that which exists in colour and shape. 



Thus it happens that the shrews are frequently 

 miscalled shrew-mice, yet they are not mice, nor 

 are they even rodents ; they belong to the order 

 of Insectivora, and feed entirely on insects and 

 worms. Their teeth are not adapted for gnawing 

 as are those of the rodents. There are three 

 species of shrew which have been observed in 



