154 RODENT WATER TRESPASSERS. 



the surface, that it fell an eary victim. It could also 

 see under the water, as was evident from the fact that 

 it made for a wooden stake which had been driven into 

 the bed of the pond, and clung to it for some little time. 



The Water Vole, on the contrary, if it once got an 

 opportunity of diving, would at once have made for 

 the bottom of the pond, and then would havs skirted 

 the edge, until it found one of the burrows which were 

 tolerably sure to lead into the water. 



These burrows are made on just the same principle 

 as those of the beaver, their entrance being well below 

 the surface of the water, and the extremities well 

 above the highest point to which the water can reach. 

 How numerous are those burrows very few people 

 know. A stream may appear to be absolutely free 

 from Water Voles, while both banks are literally riddled 

 with their holes. This fact may be ascertained by 

 anyone who chooses to take the trouble of wading 

 along the banks and feeling for the rat-holes. 



During my boyhood I was much addicted to cray- 

 fish hunting. This is rather an exciting sport. You 

 wade along the river bank, and with the fingers test 

 every inch of it as low as can be reached. There will 

 be plenty of rat-holes, especially in those parts which 

 are edged by willows, whose roots hang in the water 

 like great tufts of long red hair, as of a giant's beard. 

 Under the cover of these roots the Water Vole 

 loves to place the entrance of its burrow, and it is in 

 such places that the crayfish makes its haunt. A little 

 practice soon enables the crayfish hunter to detect his 

 prey. He pushes his hand into the burrow, and if his 

 fingers are pricked, he knows that it is by the spiky 



