ON THE BANK VOLE. 369 



species have been well described by Mr. Rope, who writes as 

 follows : — 



" Their favourite haunts here are old rough ivy-covered 

 hedge-banks, especially those from which the soil has been 

 washed away in places, leaving the roots bare, and thus forming 

 hollows behind them ; banks adjoining woods and plantations 

 seem particularly attractive to them. In spots like this, pleasingly 

 varied by a sprinkling of old mossy stubs, brambles and bushes, 

 with the roots of overhanging trees backed by deep cavernous 

 recesses, the Bank Vole makes its burrow, and forms runs in all 

 directions, partly above and partly below the surface ; probably 

 also making use of those of the mole. I have caught them, too, 

 among artificial rockwork, and in a plantation in which are banks 

 thickly covered with the lesser periwinkle, among the roots and 

 stems of which they had formed numerous runs." 



The late Mr. Edward Alston also noticed that the Bank Vole 

 is partial to gardens (' Zoologist,' 1867, p. 669). He kept one for 

 some time in confinement, and gave an account of it in this 

 Journal (1866, pp. 9, 10). It would eat almost any vegetable 

 substance, but preferred roots and fruit to herbage, a raw 

 potato being a special delicacy. Gooseberries were neatly 

 emptied by a small hole on one side, the skins of all fruit being 

 rejected. Mr. Rope, who has kept several of these little animals 

 in confinement at various times, remarks : — 



"Not only do these little animals make pleasing and 

 interesting pets, but they also thrive remarkably well in con- 

 finement. On more than one occasion, indeed, on placing a 

 freshly-caught specimen with the former occupants of a cage, I 

 have been struck with the superior plumpness and sleekness of 

 the latter; I may also add that I have never had one die in 

 captivity. A female caught here in January, 1883, was exceed- 

 ingly fond of bread, and would often carry a large piece up a 

 ladder to her sleeping-place ; in fact, I have always found them 

 prefer bread and grass to any other food, and this has generally 

 been the staple diet of those I have kept. In captivity they will 

 also eat haws, peas, nuts, apples, and hemp-seed ; of maize, like 

 the Tits {Paridce), they only devour the middle, rejecting the 

 greater part of the grain ; their fondness for the seeds of the 

 sunflower is another taste they share with those birds. In 

 addition to grasses, they probably feed in the wild state upon 



