THE BANK VOLE 



though they do not pass into a long sleep 

 (or hibernate) like the dormouse. They may 

 stay in their burrows more than usual, curling 

 themselves up in tight balls to keep out the 

 cold, but whatever the weather they stiU go 

 out into it, and if you find a strange little 

 track in the snow like a rat's, only very much 

 smaller, but without any mark of a tail 

 dragging behind, that was made by the bank 

 vole, which always carries its short tail cocked 

 up in the air, whereas the long-tailed mice 

 often drop their very long tails on the snow, and 

 thus mark their trails quite tmmistakably. 

 As a matter of fact the bank vole prefers to 

 tunnel under the snow rather than run over 

 its surface. A brown mouse on white is too 

 easily seen by its enemies, but under the 

 covering of snow it can drive its holes anywhere 

 in safety. 



Really a mouse is never safe, there is always 

 something to be feared, some creature or other 

 ready to pounce on it ; and, however pretty and 

 charming a creature the bank vole may be, we 

 must be very thankful that it is so, or our 

 gardens, allotments, and fields would be over- 

 run with them. It is because they kill the 

 tiresome mice that people should not shoot, or 



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