FIELD VOLE. 107 



to distinguish it from its surroundings, so that only an eye 

 trained to find it would see it. It may be detected by the finer 

 character (due to shredding) of the grass. The parent enters 

 or emerges from any point under the edge of the dome, and in 

 the case of our uncovering the nest will at once bolt, leaving 

 her five youngsters at our mercy. This we have found to be 

 a characteristic callousness on her part. We have frequently 

 torn off the roof of such nests suddenly, but have only been able 

 to catch sight of the rapidly moving mother and trace her for 

 a short distance along a run, so unhesitating and rapid was 

 her flight. Like all our Rodents with the exception of the 

 Hares, the young are naked and blind at birth, and there may 

 be five, six, or seven in a litter. Those shown in the photo- 

 graph, though their eyes were not open, had beautiful coats of 

 short fur. There are several litters in a season. 



In those districts where the over-zealous efforts of the game- 

 keeper have resulted in the partial extermination of the Weasel 

 and the Owls, the increase of the Field Vole is so enormous 

 and so rapid that they have at times become a plague. Crops 

 are cleared from the fields, young trees in plantations destroyed 

 by thousands, and even newly-sown cornfields rendered un- 

 productive by every seed being eaten. In the New Forest and 

 the Forest of Dean great loss has been sustained at various 

 times by their severing the roots of young trees that crossed 

 their runs, and by their gnawing the bark of the young trunks. 

 The most effective of the plans adopted for lessening their 

 numbers was by sinking pits a foot and a half deep, wider at 

 the bottom than at the mouth, into which vast numbers fell 

 and from which they could not escape. More recently the 

 South of Scotland suffered from a plague of " mice'' that ate 

 up everything in the fields, inflicting such serious loss to 

 agriculture that a Government Committee was appointed to 

 inquire into it, and it was found that the chief culprit was the 

 Field Vole. Fortunately, when things were at their worst, a 



