318 THE WATER-RAT OR WATER-VOLE. 



below the surface. I remember on one occasion 

 a ratting expedition entirely failed owing to the 

 fact that the terriers could not be made to see the 

 bolting rats as they swam below the surface, albeit 

 the water was dead-clear and not a foot in depth, 

 while the rats were as visible to us as they dived 

 across the gravel as they would have been on dry 

 land. 



NATURAL FOES. 



The water-vole's natural foes are many, though 

 it may suffer little by their activities except in 

 winter. Since it is nocturnal in its habits as well 

 as diurnal, owls probably stand foremost among 

 its wild enemies. An owl will spend much of its 

 time patrolling a river or a stream where these 

 voles exist, or in waiting silently for their appear- 

 ance, perched with alert watchfulness on a boulder 

 or in the branches. The heron also is supposed to 

 take water-voles, and there is no doubt that this 

 bird would very readily snap up a young vole 

 that it could easily swallow. The adult voles, 

 however, appear to possess no fear of the gray- 

 coated ' angler,' swimming boldly within reach of 

 his bayonet bill ; and as regards any extensive 

 damage, the heron can be written off as a winter 

 foe only. The same applies to the otter, for, 

 though living on apparently friendly terms with 

 the voles during the summer, an otter will make 

 terrible inroads into their numbers in winter, when 

 trout are so poorly conditioned as to afford little 

 nourishment. The gray rats probably do not 

 destroy water-voles in any great numbers, as the 

 more timid creatures simply clear out as soon as 

 the rats come, having more sense than to dispute 

 their right of entry. 



