68 



Crai^i^iiiiUar and its Environs. 



The field vole is one of the most productive of this 

 tribe of animals, and not unfrequently becomes a most 

 destructive pest to the farmer. Unlike most animals 

 of this species, they appear, strangely enough, to thrive 



Voles. 



best in wet seasons, and on damp soil. About fifteen 

 years ago the farmers in the pastoral districts of Sel- 

 kirkshire had a visitation of this plague. Like the 

 locusts of Egypt, whole mountain-sides and pastoral 

 glens were literally covered with countless numbers of 



