250 BRITISH MAMMALS 



even been recorded in Wales, or anywhere to the west of the 

 counties of Gloucester and Warwick. It is very scarce in the 

 north of England, but ranges from Devonshire to Nottingham 

 and Lincoln, and reappears again in Eastern and Southern 

 Scotland, ranging as far north as Aberdeenshire. Its distribution 

 is, however, very patchy, and a great deal more might be known 

 about this smallest mouse in regard to its habits and distribution. 

 Outside England its range extends over France, Northern Italy, 

 Central Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, and Siberia. 



SUB-FAMILY : MICROTIN&. THE VOLES 

 The sub-family, which includes the voles and lemmings, 

 differs from the mice and rats in possessing short ears and an 

 abbreviated, hairy tail. These animals are stouter and clumsier 

 than the rats and mice. They also have the molar teeth (three 

 pairs in each jaw) imperfectly rooted, or rootless, and very 

 remarkable in shape and structure, having a shape and a surface 

 pattern which can only be expressed by the diagram given on 

 p. 238. 



The Microtine sub-family includes not only the voles, but 

 their near ally, the musquash, or North American water rat, and 

 the lemmings. 



Microtus agrestis. THE SHORT-TAILED FIELD VOLE 



This animal is about the size of a house mouse, with perhaps 

 a slightly larger, though shorter and stumpier, body, measuring a 

 little over 4 in. in length from the tip of the nose to the root of 

 the tail. The tail is another i^- in. or less. It can be at once 

 told from the True Mice by the far blunter head. The eyes, also, 

 are not quite so prominent and projecting. The ears are relatively 

 small, are set close to the head, and are a good deal covered by 

 the thick hair of the cheeks and neck. The soles of the hind feet 

 develop six naked pads. The colour of the upper parts is brown, 

 and of the lower grayish-white or ash-colour, the demarcation 

 between the two tints being quite distinct. The tail is covered 

 with short hair, and not with scales as in the True Mice. 



