78 ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Squirrel (Sdurus vulgaris. Linn.). 



With the beautiful Squirrel, the most popular of all our 

 native fauna, we make the acquaintance of another order of 

 animals, the Rodentia or gnawing mammals, which is the most 

 numerously represented of the orders in our meagre list, Britain 

 still possessing fifteen species of rodents. Besides- the Squirrel, 

 the order Rodentia includes the Dormouse, the Rats, Mice, 

 and Voles, the Hares and Rabbit ; and the characteristic 

 feature that brings them together is the chisel-like pattern of 

 their incisor teeth. (See Introduction.) They may be said 

 to be the dominant race of mammals in the present day, for 

 whilst over a thousand species are known to science, and 

 these mostly of very wide geographical range, there are vast and 

 increasing numbers of individuals representing many of the 

 species. Whilst man is busy killing off the carnivora and the 

 birds of prey, these natural checks to the multiplication of 

 the Rodents are being missed seriously, and Rats, Hamsters, 

 and Voles prove a serious menace to man's agricultural produce, 

 and the Rat to his health owing to its instrumentality as a 

 carrier of disease. 



A distinctive character of the Rodents, additional to the 

 chisel-teeth and the absence of canines, is the possession of 

 hairy linings to the mouth, the external skin being continued 

 into the sides of the mouth behind the upper front teeth. In 

 the Hares and Rabbits the whole of the inside of the cheeks is 

 covered with hair. 



Very few of the Rodents are aquatic in their habits, and of 

 these few the Water Vole is the only British representative. 

 Most of them are burrowing animals, and excavate long runs 

 and nesting places in the earth ; a few, like the Squirrels and 

 Dormice, are arboreal. As a whole the Rodents may be said to 

 be vegetarians ; but the Rats are omnivorous, and the Water 

 Vole though mainly herbivorous takes a little animal food. 



