WATER VOLE. IOJ 



pointed ; the limbs are shorter and the hairy tail is not much 

 more than half the length of the head and body. The eyes are 

 small and short-sighted, and the small round ears scarcely 

 project from the surrounding fur, though when listening intently 

 the Vole erects them and makes them more conspicuous. 

 Linnaeus, following Ray, described the Water Vole as having 

 webbed feet, but this is incorrect, though the toes of the hinder 

 foot are connected at their base. They are naked and pale 

 pink beneath, with five rounded pads, but above are clothed in 

 stiff hairs. The thick, long, glossy fur is of a warm reddish- 

 brown above, sprinkled with grey, and on the under parts 

 yellowish-grey. This applies chiefly to the male ; the female is 

 slightly smaller than her mate, is less bright and more greyish- 

 brown in her coloration. The average length of head and body 

 is seven and a half inches, and of the tapering, ringed tail about 

 four and a half inches. It sometimes occurs with black fur, 

 especially in East Anglia and Scotland ; and these examples 

 are usually reported as the Black Rat. Some modern authorities 

 recognise it as a sub-species (reta). 



Although it has not the webbed feet that Ray attributed to it, 

 its swimming and diving powers are of a high order. Often in 

 walking near a stream or pond, the loud sudden " plop " as it 

 drops into the water is our first intimation that the Vole is 

 near. We may occasionally track his course under water, but 

 as a rule he at once disappears into his burrow in the bank, 

 sometimes by an underwater entrance, and may regain the 

 bank by an upper exit. These burrows, in which the Vole 

 spends most of the daytime, often occasion considerable 

 damage, as to the dykes in the Fenland, and where ponds 

 have been constructed by artificial banking. Otherwise, the 

 Water Vole must be pronounced an entirely inoffensive rodent, 

 in spite of the libels that accuse him of capturing waterfowl and 

 fish for which he is unfitted. He has been seen grubbing among 

 the mud at the bottom for caddis-worms and other insects, 



