320 NETHER LOCHABER. 



prevent us from playing any great or prominent part in the 

 orchestra of life, we are yet all the same to perform the parts 

 assigned us as best we may, and always cheerily and with a 

 will. Next morning again was calm and mild and beautiful 

 as a summer morning could be, while the country already looked 

 so fresh and green and lovely that one could hardly believe that 

 such a marvellous change had taken place in the course of a single 

 night ; so potent, in such circumstances, is the kindly touch of 

 the Rain King's-magic wand. 



The plague of mice in Upper Teviotdale is a very serious matter 

 indeed, and the most energetic steps should at once be taken in 

 order to check and, if possible, stamp out the evil. These little 

 rodents multiply with incredible rapidity, and if they are to be 

 fought a, Toutrance and conquered, the sooner the campaign is 

 opened, and the more vigorously it is conducted, the easier and 

 speedier will be the victory. The short-tailed field-mouse is 

 fortunately a rare animal in the Highlands, though we have 

 occasionally met with it in the districts of Lome, Lochaber, and 

 Badenoch. We have also seen it on the lands of Drumfin, near 

 Tobermory, in the island of Mull. Once seen, it is easily recog- 

 nised again. Its colour, instead of being of the ordinary " mouse " 

 shade of grey or brown, is red, or reddish ; its head is more bullet- 

 like and rounder, and its snout blunter than in any of its con- 

 geners ; and its tail ends abruptly, giving that appendage a 

 docked and stumpy look, as if by accident or design one-third of 

 its proper length had been cut off in early life ; and hence its 

 common designation of short-tailed field-mouse. Every one who has 

 tried to capture a common domestic mouse with the bare hand, knows 

 to his cost how quickly and sharply it can bite ; but the little 

 field-mouse never once attempts to bite the hand that holds it. If 

 pounced upon while running about in the rough bent grass in 

 which it usually shelters, it no sooner feels itself fairly enclosed in 



