156 



Notes on the Injury done by Field Voles (Arvicola 

 agrestis) to young PlobntationH on Duns Castle Estate. 

 By John Ferguson, F.S.A. Scot, Duns. 



The Field Vole has always been more or less plentiful 

 on the higher grounds lying to the north-west of Duns 

 Castle, but it is only within the last two years that its 

 numbers have increased to such a degree as to constitute a 

 serious danger to the young plantations near its haunts 

 Hitherto its ravages have been confined to a portion of 

 what is known as the Duns Wood, about 20 acres in extent, 

 and situated from 500 to 700 feet above sea-level ; but there 

 can be no doubt that it is present in considerable numbers 

 in the adjoining grounds, and it is probable that the infested 

 area is increasing. During the past season, while a glade 

 in the policies opposite the N. end of the Lake was being 

 cut for hay, numerous nests were turned up by the mowers, 

 and 235 Voles, of which the great majority were young, 

 destroyed. They have also been observed in a piece of 

 recently planted ground near the Geans Cottage at Clockmill. 



The Voles were first observed to attack the young trees 

 in the spring of 1891. When the snow had disappeared, 

 it was found that many young, hard woods were dying or 

 dead, and a closer examination showed that in almost every 

 instance the tender rootlets had been eaten, and the bark 

 round the main roots gnawed away by the vermin, which 

 had tunnelled the ground in all directions. Attempts to 

 destroy them by traps having failed, Mr Menziea, Secretary 

 of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, was 

 communicated with, and he advised that pits, wider at the 

 bottom than at the mouth, should be dug in the lines of 

 the runs, all over the infested area. This was tried, but 

 the soil proved to be too loose and stony to retain the pit 

 form, and a plan was hit upon of sinking 3-iuch drain tiles 

 vertically in the ground, so as to leave the edges of their 

 upper ends exactly on a level with the surface. This method 

 has been attended with considerable success, and since it 

 was adopted, numerous mice of various species, of which fully 

 three-fourths were Voles, have been captured. 



The causes of this sudden and alarming outbreak of the 

 Vole plague must, as yet, be largely matter of conjecture. 



