WILD LIFE IN HAED WEATHER 199 



voles have scratched away the snow in their 

 quest for food. Under the trees the ground 

 thaws more rapidly than elsewhere ; the latent 

 heat in the trees themselves is, in part, the cause 

 of this. Finding the earth comparatively soft 

 close by the willows, the voles have here and 

 there dug a shallow trench, that they may obtain 

 a frugal meal of grass-roots and reeds. They 

 are timid little creatures ; their burrows by the 

 waterside are like miniature dwelling-places of 

 the otter, one entrance opening on the top of the 

 bank and the other below the surface of the 

 stream. In summer the voles are rarely seen by 

 day, but when darkness falls they sit out with" 

 their families near the reeds at the margin of the 

 river. At the slightest disturbance they drop 

 into the water and enter their burrows by the 

 hidden passages. Like otters, they are night- 

 feeders. But hard frost causes a change in their 

 habits ; they now take full advantage of the 

 warmth of noon. In the least thaw the voles 

 must work hard, if life is to be kept aflame. 

 Perhaps only for a little while in the day can 

 the hungry creatures have easy access to the 

 succulent shoots of water plants and grasses 

 which form their simple diet, and then, in certain 

 unfrequented places, they throng the river bank. 

 None but the student of Nature recognises 

 how marked is the change in the life of the fields 



