WILD CREATURES OF GARMN AND HEDGEROW 



bigger than the little field vole, which is seldom 

 more than four and a half inches from the tip of 

 its nose to the tip of its tail, and often much 

 smaller, that there is no chance of making a 

 mistake and taking one for the other. 



The vole's dull brown colour, with greyish 

 under-parts, matches well the dark shadowy 

 spaces between the grass stems, so that when 

 it ' freezes ' and does not move for two or 

 three minutes, it is almost impossible to see it. 

 It simply melts into its surroundings, and 

 vanishes until some movement betrays where 

 it is. All this is part of the difficult business 

 of keeping out of sight of its foes indeed a 

 vole's life is one long effort to hide from its 

 enemies, for once seen its fate is certain. 

 Night and day death stalks at its heels, the 

 brown owl and the kestrel prefer it to any other 

 food, and the one by night and the other by day 

 keep a keen watch for any unwary vole that 

 ventures for a moment into the open. Many 

 other creatures also help in the task of keeping 

 down the numbers of the voles ; the barn owl 

 eats great numbers, the fox and badger do not 

 despise them, and near the coast the different 

 gulls share the work. The prowling cat 

 accounts for a good many, the crows, magpie, 

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