THE WATER VOLE. 171 



the Hamster after the harvest is over, and often recover considerable 

 quantities of the stolen grain. The destructive capability of the an- 

 imal may be gathered from the fact that a single Hamster has been 

 known to hoard no less than sixty pounds of corn in its home, while 

 a hundredweight of beans have been recovered from the storehouses 

 of another specimen. 



The skin of the Hamster is of some value in commerce, so that the 

 hunters make a double use of a successful chase, for they not only re- 

 cover the stolen property of the agriculturist, but gain some profit by 

 selling the skins. 



There are many animals which have been saddled with a bad reputa- 

 tion merely on account of an unfortunate resemblance to another animal 

 of really evil character. Among these misused innocents the Water 

 Vole — popularly called the Water Rat — is very conspicuous, as the 

 poor creature has been commonly supposed to be guilty of various 

 poaching exploits which were really achieved by the ordinary brown rat. 



It is quite true that rats are often seen on the river-banks in the act 

 of eating captured fish, but these culprits are only the brown rats which 

 have migrated from the farmyards for the summer months, and intend 

 to return as soon as autumn sets in. The food of the true Water Rat 

 — or Water Vole, as it is more correctly named — is chiefly of a vegeta- 

 ble nature, and consists almost entirely of various aquatic plants and 

 roots. The common " mare's tail,'' or Equisetum, is a favorite article 

 of diet with the Water Vole, and I have often seen it feeding on the 

 bark of the common rush. Many years ago I shot a Water Vole as it 

 was sitting upon a water-lily leaf and engaged in eating the green seeds ; 

 and on noticing the kind of diet on which the animal was feeding, I de- 

 termined to watch the little creatures with more care. My own testi- 

 mony coincides precisely with that of other observers, for I never yet 

 saw the true snub-nosed, short-eared, yellow-toothed Vole engaged in 

 eating animal food, although the brown rat may be often detected in 

 such an act. 



Many communications have been made to me on the subject, written 

 for the most part by persons who have seen water-side rats engaged in 

 catching and eating fish, and have thought that the delinquents were the 

 true Water Vole. Indeed, the Vole is allied very closely to the beavei', 

 and partakes of the vegetarian character of that animal. 



The color of the Water Vole is a chestnut brown, dashed with gray 

 on the upper parts and fading to gray below. The ears are so short that 

 they are hardly perceptible above the fur. The incisor teeth are of a 

 light yellow, and are very thick and strong. The tail is shorter than 

 that of the common rat, hardly exceeding half the length of the head 

 and body. The average length of a full-grown Water Vole is thirteen 

 inches, the tail being about four inches and three-quarters long. 



