THE SHORT-TAILED FIELD VOLE 



and jay lend their help, the stoat catches a few, 

 and last but not least comes the weasel, most 

 deadly foe of all. 



From the moment the baby vole leaves the 

 snug nest of shredded grass in which it was 

 bom, it begins a life in which success goes to 

 those who are always ' wide-awake,' never 

 take chances, or leave anything to luck, and 

 in moments of danger can best make themselves 

 invisible. By success I mean the feat of 

 growing up and living to rear a family, for 

 success in Nature consists of rearing and sending 

 out into the world more young ones than your 

 neighbour. There seems little doubt that it is 

 by selection—that is to say, by the killing off of 

 all voles whose coats have been either too light 

 or too dark to hide well among the grass — ^that 

 the dull dark brown fur of the meadow vole 

 has been produced. It is not that it matches 

 either the stems of the grass, or the bare earth, 

 but it goes wonderfully well with the shadowy 

 spaces between the plants. 



When any sound is heard or anything seen 

 moving, a vole either tumbles headlong down 

 the nearest hole, or crouches where it is, 

 trusting to the over-arching grass and its own 

 invisibleness to save it. If the alarm was a 



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