456 The Plague of Field Mice, by Sir Walter Elliot. 



sloping down to the Bowmont, on the farm of Sourhope near 

 Yetholm, two to four nests were found under every rick, each 

 with six to nine young ones, the nest lying in a cavity from 

 which runs diverged in every direction. Great numbers were 

 killed by the boys assisting. One little fellow got 79 full grown 

 ones for his share, and his straw hat was brimful of young ones." 



Their numbers already redundant were augmented by the 

 mild winter of 1875-6, and in the succeeding spring, they made 

 their presence felt in the doomed farms. During the three 

 months from February to April, they completely destroyed the 

 pasturage of the bogland in Borthwick water, and were then 

 driven to the bents. Notwithstanding the means used for their 

 destruction, which, however, were not very skilful, the swarms 

 showed little diminution. The public journals suggested a trial 

 of the plan, which had been so efficacious in the New Forest, 

 where holes were dug into which they fell, but the hint came too 

 late. More efficient auxiliaries appeared in the shape of hawks, 

 foxes, weasels, &c, attracted by the abundant prey. Buzzards, 

 which have long been strangers to the district, again made their 

 appearance. A shepherd in Eskdalemuir saw seven of the 

 rough-legged species (Buteo lag opus) on the wing at the same 

 time, and the short and long-eared owls were observed in still 

 larger numbers. By the middle of April the herbage was so 

 much impaired that the voles themselves began to feel the want 

 of food, and the occurrence of severe frost, with a sprinkling of 

 snow, about the middle of the month, completed their discom- 

 fiture. Many died of starvation, and by the end of May they 

 had mostly disappeared. 



When the Committee of the Farmer's Club made their inspec- 

 tion, they found that fully one-third of the pasture in the places 

 visited had been destroyed. The true bog-grass especially, on 

 which the sheep mainly depend in April and May, had been 

 eaten down to the roots. The ground was strewed with dried 

 stalks and blades, mixed with tufts of fur, limbs, and other re- 

 mains of the depredators. The sheep were in deplorable case. 

 Several had died. The emaciated ewes, too weak to make good 

 nurses, suckled their lambs with difficulty. Numbers of these 

 had perished in consequence, and the survivors were poor and 

 weakly. 



On the return of the Committee, the causes of such an unusual 



