WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



cleaned it too from root to tip. Finished at 

 last, it sat up, looked round, listened for a 

 moment, took alarm at some slight sound, and 

 was gone in less time than it takes to tell. 

 When a mouse is frightened it does one of two 

 things : it either dashes for home and shelter, 

 trying to reach cover before its foe is upon it, 

 or it ' freezes ' where it is, keeping quite still 

 until the danger is past, hoping that it will not 

 be seen, and trusting to the colour of its coat 

 to hide it. The red-brown fur matches the 

 soil, dead leaves, and withered grass wonderfully 

 well, so that the vole is very difficult to see 

 while it keeps still. It is lost, has become 

 merely a bit earth, a broken clod, and the 

 likeness is helped by its white under-parts, 

 which do away with the dark shadow that its 

 body would otherwise cast. Even the keen- 

 eyed kestrel will be deceived, but woe to the 

 mouse if it moves too soon ! Out of the sky 

 will fall the hawk, dropping like a stone on its 

 prey, and that vole will be gone from its home 

 for ever. 



That it is danger from above which all mice 



fear most was well shown when I kept three 



bank voles in a large glass-sided cage. They 



did not take any notice of things moving beside 



26 



