12*2 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



We also inspected the farm of Howpasley, about twelve miles from 

 Hawick, which was said to have suffered as severely as any from 

 the ravages of voles. 



Nature and Origin of the Plague. — The animal which by 

 excessive multiplication has caused so much mischief on hill- 

 farms in the southern uplands of Scotland is the Short-tailed Field 

 Vole, Arvicola agrestis. Of this vole an excellent and exhaustive 

 account was contributed to the ' Proceedings of the Berwickshire 

 Naturalists' Club,' in 1878, by the late Sir Walter Elliot. 



This Field Vole is at all seasons a well-known inhabitant of 

 our pastures, and may be found at all heights from the sea-level 

 to near the summits of our highest hills. The Chairman of the 

 Committee saw one in the autumn of 1891 at a height of 2000 

 feet on Ben Eibhinn, in Strath Ossian. The attention of farmers 

 and shepherds is only attracted to it when circumstances have 

 combined to cause an abnormal increase in its numbers. One 

 shepherd stated that when as a boy he used to find a nest of 

 voles he would " hap " (protect) it, because it was thought rare. 



The Field Vole usually produces three or four litters a year, 

 each consisting of from four to eight young, but in some seasons 

 they are even more prolific, the breeding season is prolonged, 

 young voles being observed from February to November, and the 

 litters containing as many as ten young. Mr. Service, of Max- 

 welltown, a local naturalist and careful observer, mentioned in his 

 evidence that he had observed females suckling young while in 

 a pregnant state. 



The present outbreak may be traced back to the year 1888, 

 when the voles were observed to be increasing on the farm of 

 Glenkerry and others in Selkirkshire. In the summer of 1889 

 the low-lying pastures near Closeburn, in Dumfriesshire, were 

 observed to be infested by enormous numbers of voles, which 

 remained there during 1890, and disappeared in 1891, probably 

 moving up to the hill-pastures, where at the time of the Com- 

 mittee's visit they were swarming. 



On some of the hill-farms this excessive increase was observed 

 as early as the autumn of 1890 ; elsewhere, however, they attracted 

 no attention till the spring of 1891. The districts principally 

 affected are the hill-pastures in the north-west of Roxburghshire, 

 the south of the counties of Selkirk, Peebles, and Lanark, and 

 the northern part of Dumfries from Eskdalemuir by Moffat to 





