CHAPTER XII 



THE SHORT-TAILED FIELD VOLE 



The short-tailed field vole, or meadow mouse 

 as some people prefer to call it, is one of the 

 most plentiful of our smaller animals. Wher- 

 ever there is long grass you will find the 

 highways that it makes as it runs to and fro 

 between the stems of the undergrowth. It 

 lives on grass and literally eats out its roads 

 before it. Wherever there is a colony of voles, 

 there will also be found a perfect network of 

 tunnels running in all directions through the 

 grass. Even without opening them up you 

 can get some idea of their many twistings and 

 turnings, for the grass that has been bitten off 

 underneath shows brown and withered on the 

 top. This yellow withered herbage tells the 

 tale of the roads that run through the forest 

 of stems beneath, and that little furry brown 

 mice race to and fro beneath its shelter. By 

 running your finger along the highways and 

 parting the over-arching grass you will be able 



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