170 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



period during which the sheep would be denied the use of the 

 burnt ground would be shortened, in respect that the season of 

 growth would be nearer at hand. 



It is to be pointed out that the effect of the depredations 

 already committed by the mice must somewhat militate against 

 the chance of effective burning, as over large areas of the affected 

 ground the herbage lies sodden and saturated on its surface, in 

 consequence of the severance of the stalks from the roots. The 

 sheep drains, too, have been in many places choked by the severed 

 herbage which has fallen into them. This makes the desirability 

 of extending the burning season till a drier period of the year all 

 the more obvious. 



Suggestions have been made that where bog land is not of a 

 nature suitable for burning, it might be occasionally cut, to remove 

 accumulations of decayed vegetation, in which the Voles are wont 

 to harbour, though some practical authorities dispute the pro- 

 priety of burning or otherwise interfering with bog land at all, 

 but affirm that burning should be restricted to the benty 

 ground. 



It has been suggested that the areas burned should be kindled 

 on all sides simultaneously, so that the vermin should escape less 

 readily, and if this were followed up by active measures with men 

 and dogs on the unburnt areas to which those escaping would 

 doubtless betake themselves, a very material reduction in their 

 numbers would probably be effected. 



On the occasion of a previous outbreak — about fifteen years 

 ago — it is alleged that the Voles succumbed to natural causes, 

 and disappeared suddenly after a severe frost following a heavy 

 storm of rain and sleet. My information is that the extent of 

 country then affected was much more limited than on the present 

 occasion, but the foregoing testimony as to the disappearance of 

 the plague is uniformly accepted in these districts. 



The letters published by the Highland and Agricultural Society 

 of Scotland will convey to the Board of Agriculture more forcibly 

 than I can state it the serious character of the present outbreak, 

 and the severe loss and inconvenience which stockowners in these 

 districts are at present subjected to, which must be felt all the 

 more keenly under present circumstances, when returns from hill 

 farms are materially lessened from the lower values of sheep 

 stocks, and when prices of hay and other fodder, which it has 



