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THE ZOOLOGIST. 



distance of from 12 to 20 ft. apart. On the other hand, the head- 

 keeper at Drumlanrig said that pitfalls had been tried without 

 much success in the extensive plantations at that place. As a 

 remedy on sheep farms, pitfalls were graphically appraised thus 

 by Mr. Whittle — " How many holes . . . would it take to cover 

 my farm of 7600 acres, and what would be the cost?" 



The same objection — namely, the nature and extent of the 

 ground affected — applies to the proposal of other expedients 

 which have been resorted to in various parts of the Continent, 

 viz., passing a heavy roller over the ground, trampling it with 

 cavalry, inundating it, injecting water, steam, or noxious fumes 

 into the runs. All of these may be dismissed as wholly im- 

 practicable. 



Large numbers of voles were destroyed on some farms by 

 men and dogs. The vole is extremely rapid in its movements 

 and difficult to hit with a stick. A more effective weapon is a 

 wooden implement shaped like a small spade. The tenant of 

 West Buccleuch, in Selkirkshire, killed by this means 13,000 in 

 three months on 3000 acres ; the tenant of Glenkerry (3000 

 acres) employed a man who killed 15,000 in one month, or about 

 450 per diem. The tenant of Langshawburn hired a man with 

 twelve terriers, who killed from 400 to 600 a day on 4260 acres. 

 In addition he turned out 100 cats, and by the end of June, 1892, 

 reported that there was not one vole for every 100 that there had 

 been on his ground. 



There can be little doubt that simultaneous and combined 

 action of this sort on the part of owners and occupiers, aided by 

 timely and judicious burning in the earlier stages of the outbreak, 

 is the most effective method of staying the ravages of the plague. 

 Unfortunately, not only have these exertions been hitherto 

 isolated and intermittent, but they have been delayed until the 

 voles were swarming over a considerable extent of ground. 



Previous Outbreaks. — There is abundant evidence to prove 

 that in former times, not only in this country but in many other 

 lands, the excessive pullulation of small rodents has from time to 

 time amounted to a plague. 



A passage in Holinshed's 'Chronicle' is worth quoting 

 here, because it records a visitation of Owls similar to that 

 which has taken place in the Border counties during the present 

 outbreak : — 



