THE VLEY OTOMYS OR VLEY MUIS 



This Otomys is commbnly found on damp or 

 marshy lands, and in dark-wooded Kloofs, and 

 along the banks of spruits and rivers. It favours 

 these places for the reason that the reeds, rushes 

 and other fornas of rank vegetation provide a com- 

 paratively safe retreat from its enemies, and because 

 the roots of these forms of vegetation provide it 

 with an abundance of food. Other favourite 

 haunts are those portions of the veld where the 

 grass grows rank and thick ; the forest regions, and, 

 in fact, wherever trees, shrubs, undergrowth, or 

 other forms of vegetation provide a sufficiency 

 of food and shelter, there this Otomys will be 

 found. 



It has regular beaten tracks under the matted 

 grass or brushwood, and amidst the reeds and 

 rushes. In a small patch of thick matted grass in 

 my garden there were dozens of pathways beaten 

 down hard by the constant tread of the Vley 

 Otomys. In the most secluded spot in its retreat 

 the female makes a nest of fine grass, or whatever 

 materials are at hand. The grass is bitten into 

 small pieces and shredded for the interioi; of the 

 nest. In this nest the young are born and reared. 

 The number at a birth averages from five to a 

 dozen. In exposed situations burrows are made in 

 the ground. In the neighbourhood of farmhouses, 

 villages and towns the Otomys frequently makes its 

 lair amidst old lumber, in refuse heaps, piles of 

 wood, etc. On clearing away these materials, nests 



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