THE WATER-RAT OR WATER-VOLE. 321 



If their home be well sheltered and secure, it is 

 probable that the union holds good; but during 

 winter the water-voles of our rapidly flowing brooks 

 and rivers in the north generally live solitary 

 lives. It would seem that when the mating bond 

 no longer exists they very easily drift apart, and 

 the flooding- out of their burrow may cause each to 

 seek new quarters quite independently of the other. 

 In winter the struggle to keep alive is so unrelent- 

 ing that, whatever their intentions may be, the 

 mated couples are apt to be mercilessly separated ; 

 though it is probable that, where circumstances 

 favour it, a once mated couple remain mated for 

 life. 



According to some authorities the young are 

 sometimes born in the bank -burrow ; but more 

 frequently, so far as I have observed, the nest is 

 situated twelve or twenty yards from the water's 

 edge, out in an open pasture or in a wood. Gener- 

 ally it is underground, but so near the surface that 

 cattle are apt to tread through the roof, bringing 

 destruction upon the family. When the young are 

 growing, they appear to obtain a good deal of their 

 exercise by extending the burrow in every direc- 

 tion, till eventually it becomes a warren, resembling 

 a maze of mole-runs. 



Not infrequently the nest is above ground, con- 

 cealed by the shelter of overhanging grasses. It is 

 a large nest, consisting of reeds cut into suitable 

 lengths, or of any other material that comes handy. 

 In this case the young are conveyed to the bank- 

 burrow, soon after they are born, by their mother, 

 who carries them in her mouth by the loose skin 

 between their forelegs, and the young forthwith 

 amuse themselves by extending the bank-burrow 

 in the way previously described. 



W.A. U 



