65 
THE NEST OF THE BANK VOLE. 
By GEORGE ELLISON. 
Karly in May, 1918, I was staying at a farm called Ffynon- 
tudor (Tudor’s Well), Llanelidan, near Ruthin, situated on the 
mountain top, 700 feet above sea-level, at the head of the 
_ Vale of Clwyd. During one of my rambles I saw in a bank, 
_ at the edge of a wood, what I thought was a tuft of withered 
grass and leaves, about a foot from the ground. When | 
touched it, out jumped a vole, which I had time to see was a 
Bank Vole. The nest from which it had sprung, upon my 
attempting to handle it, fell to pieces. I searched in the 
neighbourhood and found, on May 12th, another nest—built, 
this time, amongst the stems and leaves of a bramble bush—in 
- the nest of a whitethroat, and about eighteen inches from the 
ground. This nest was about four inches in diameter, and 
composed of dry grass and leaves. I set a trap below the bush 
and caught a male Bank Vole. Half a mile from here, on the 
same day, I found another round nest, also in a bramble bush ; 
this nest, with the addition of some bracken to the grass and 
leaves, was, like the previous one, about eighteen inches from 
the ground and four inches in diameter. 
These last two nests, to the casual observer, might easily 
be mistaken for small wrens’ nests, which they very much 
resemble, and passed as such. On some waste land, near the 
spot where I had made my first find, I discovered a nest, oval 
in shape and three inches long. This was in a gorse bush, and 
about a foot from the ground. It was composed entirely of 
dried grass. 
No apparent entrance exists in these nests. The voles 
evidently pass in and out where the wall is thinnest, and 
“pull the door to ”’ after them. 
In the Autumn of the same year | was again staying at 
the farm, and resumed my searches, but in another direction. 
