260 VOLES; FIELD-MOUSE, WATER-RAT, LEMMING, MUSK-RAT. 



inches in depth, and much wider at the bottom than at the top, 

 so that the Mice which should fall in might not easily get out 

 again. It was calculated that, in the Forest of Dean, not fewer 

 than 100,000 Mice were taken by means of these holes, in the 

 course of a few months ; as many as 30,000 having been counted 

 out from them ; and a much larger number having been probably 

 destroyed by Stoats, Weasels, Kites, Hawks, Owls, and other 

 predaceous quadrupeds and birds, which resorted to these holes 

 to secure an easy and abundant prey. An equal number was 

 destroyed in the New Forest ; and the evil has not since re- 

 turned, to anything like the same extent. The Field Voles, 

 like Rats, will kill and eat their own kind, when pressed by 

 famine, or kept in confinement. The so-called Water Rat is also 

 in reality a Vole. It burrows in the banks of streams, forming 

 its retreat at some distance from the water ; and in this it lays 

 up a store of vegetable substances, on which alone it feeds. It 

 dives and swims with great facility, instantly seeking the water 

 when alarmed, and plunging at once to the bottom ; it is obliged, 

 however, to return to the surface for respiration, at intervals of 

 about a minute. The Lemmings of Siberia and Northern Russia 

 also belong to this group ; they burrow and ordinarily feed on 

 grass, rein-deer lichen, &c. ; but they sometimes multiply to 

 such a degree, as to be forced to migrate, in order to obtain food. 

 These migrations are performed by immense numbers at once ; 

 they move straight onwards, destroying everything in their way, 

 until they arrive at the ocean, where most of them are drowned. 

 A curious animal, which closely connects this group with the 

 Beaver, is that known in Canada as the Muskquash, or Musk- 

 Rat, on account of the musky odour it produces. It is about the 

 size of a Rabbit ; its fur is of a reddish-gray ; its feet are partly 

 webbed, and its tail somewhat flattened. In summer it burrows 

 in the banks of streams and swamps ; and in winter it builds 

 mud huts on their margins, and sometimes even on the ice itself. 

 The entrance to these huts is under water, for the purpose of 

 procuring food, which consists entirely of aquatic vegetables; 

 and by very severe frost, these animals are consequently de- 

 stroyed, through want of food and air. It is said that, when the 



