232 GNAWING ANIMALS 



without taking into account the vast number that was eaten 

 by weasels, stoats, kites, hawks, owls, magpies, &c., which 

 were attracted to the district. 



WATER VOLE (Arvicola amphibius}. 

 Plate XX. Fig. 2. 



The Water Vole, the largest of the British Voles, is 

 common in all parts of Europe and in Northern and 

 Central Asia. The colour of the British species is a 

 mixture of grey and brown. Its nose is more snub, the ears 

 shorter, and the eyes smaller than those of the brown rat. 

 It is an expert swimmer and diver, and its coat is as 

 impervious to water as the plumage of a duck. When 

 alarmed, it dives to the bottom, where it can remain for 

 a minute or more before coming up to the surface else- 

 where to breathe. During hard winters, when its usual 

 food of aquatic plants is not available, the Water Vole 

 adopts a diet of bark, to satisfy which it works much 

 injury in osier plantations. It will also raid the ' buries ' of 

 turnips, mangolds, and potatoes in fields near the river- 

 banks. But the animal is not so voracious as the common 

 rat, and it is also far less prolific. Though English streams 

 are seldom, if ever, without the Water Vole, the animal is 

 not found in Ireland. 



MUSQUASH (Fiber zibethicus}. 

 Coloured Plate XIV. Fig. 3. 



The Musquash, Musk Rat, or Ondatra, the largest of the 

 Voles, is a North American species. Its range extends 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Arctic regions 

 as far South as Texas. It is a solidly built animal of a foot 

 in length, with a tail of ten inches. It presents marked 

 differences from the true Vole in more than its size. 

 Besides being longer in proportion, the tail is compressed, 

 and scales almost wholly replace the hair. The hind feet 

 are partially webbed. The head is remarkably wide, and 



