ROUND HOUSE AND GARDEN 213 



and, although I rarely catch sight of it in the daytime, I am made 

 aware of its presence by inserting a leaf, or piece of paper, in the 

 entrance to its home, for, sure enough, the tell-tale stoppage 

 always disappears by the following morning. 



I cannot exactly discover what the Long-tailed Field Mouse 

 lives on in my garden as, except when the potato tubers are 

 formed, and the peas are sown, I can find no evidence of any 

 depredation. I believe it collects hips and haws in Winter, and 

 that it has the habit of taking these wild fruits into a nesting box 

 which then serves as a larder. I find many remains there each 

 Spring, when I clean the bird homes out ready for their feathered 

 tenants, and I strongly suspect the mammal under review as 

 the culprit. I have disturbed it several times when thus engaged. 

 Birds also use the boxes in Winter for roosting purposes. 



Sometimes the Bank Vole comes to see me, and its near relative 

 the Short-tailed Field Vole, but they are not residents, as the 

 conditions are apparently too artificial to be suited to their 

 needs. The former delights in ivy-covered banks and copses, 

 and there search should be made for it. It is a winsome little 

 beast. 



The Pipistrelle Bat hides by day somewhere in the neighbour- 

 hood, and at night steals from its retreat to hawk over the garden 

 for winged prey, and its larger cousin, the Long-eared Bat, may 

 be espied at nightfall taking toll, maybe, of the cockchafer, or 

 an assortment of large moths which fly in at the open doorway 

 when the gas is lit. 



FIG. 88. LONG-EARED BAT. 



The burnt soil seems to have discouraged both Slug and Snail, 

 and I rarely see either, excepting small specimens of the first 

 mentioned, and for this I am devoutly thankful. Nor can I 

 discover any serious trace of their ravages. 



My greatest enemies may be counted on the fingers of one 

 hand, consisting of larvae which eat my Eose leaves and flower 



