168 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Peebles and Lanark, and having visited and inspected typical 

 cases of damage in each of these counties, I have to report as 

 follows : — 



This plague seems to have first made itself felt in the higher 

 districts of Selkirkshire, which is the most seriously affected of 

 the counties visited. Voles are stated to be always present on the 

 hill pastures, but they began to show signs of increase in 1890, and 

 in the spring of 1891 are reported to have appeared in alarming 

 numbers. The southern half of Selkirkshire, including the whole 

 of the parish of Ettrick, and a considerable part of Yarrow, is now 

 reported to be more or less seriously affected, and the present ten- 

 dency of the Voles seems to be to spread northwards and westwards. 



In Peeblesshire a number of farms in the parish of Tweeds- 

 muir are more or less affected, but, so far as my inquiries prove, 

 the Voles did not appear there in exceptional numbers until the 

 spring of last year. 



About the same time they also appeared in the Upper Ward 

 of Lanarkshire, on a number of hill farms in the parish of Craw- 

 ford on both sides of Clyde, where they have increased very 

 rapidly, and done material damage. 



Universal testimony points to bog-land as the class of pasture 

 first and most seriously affected, and as its value for winter and 

 spring food on the otherwise " white " or grassy farms in these 

 districts is very great, the temporary destruction of the bog-land 

 is naturally looked upon with great apprehension by the hill- 

 farmers. Their depredations are, however, not confined to this 

 class of pasture, as both benty and the shorter and sweeter grasses, 

 locally termed "lea ground," are in many cases considerably 

 damaged, while it is now reported that heather, which has hitherto 

 escaped their attacks, is also being affected. So far as my own 

 observations have gone, however, their attacks on hard and 

 heathery land have not been serious, nor are they likely to be so, 

 so long as a supply of damp and boggy ground is available. 



Opinions differ widely as to the cause ot the present outbreak. 

 Among farmers there is a considerable preponderance of opinion 

 in favour of the view that the destruction of Hawks, Owls, and 

 Weasels, and the consequent disturbance of the balance of nature, 

 are mainly accountable for it. On the other hand, it is affirmed 

 that the natural enemies of the Voles have not, in recent years, 

 been more extensively destroyed than has always been the case, 



