66 



FARM VERMIN, HELPFUL AMD HURTFLE. 



winter till the end of the following March, the damage 

 they contrive to do is very considerable indeed. 



Voles multiply far more rapidly than the true mice. 

 The field-vole is the most prolific of all, as about 

 75 per cent, of the total number are females. These 

 produce from eight to ten young ones every six or eight 

 weeks, and as the young begin to breed at an equal rate when 

 they have attained an age of eight weeks, the total progeny 

 of one female vole may, from ^larch till late in the autumn^ 

 amount to about 10,000 ; fortunately for our woodlands, 

 the bank-vole and the water-vole are not so prolific. Mild 

 winters and dry spring and summer weather favour their 

 increase, whilst damp weather, heavy rainfall, and frost 

 without snow tend to diminish their prolific power and to 

 weaken them constitutionally. 



As they love a certain amount of protection, mice and 

 voles are usually to be found where there is a thick soil- 

 covering of grass or fallen leaves. Hence young crops and 

 plantations showing a strong growth of grass are their 

 favourite abodes, partly on account of the actual shelter 

 they afford, and partly owing to the food-supplies stored up 

 in the roots of the perennial and biennial grasses and weeds. 

 When the fall of seeds from trees forming older woods has 

 been devoured, the voles withdraw to younger woodlands 

 unless there be a good covering of dead foliage on the soil. 

 Where mice and voles are at all numerous, it is better to 

 defer the operation of sowing in spring rather than carry 

 it out in autumn ; this is more particularly the case as 

 regards acorns and beech-nuts. The best protection 

 against any undue increase in the number of mice 

 and voles is to be found in taking measures to main- 

 tain the due balance of nature by means of preserving all 

 mice-devouring birds and animals, among which are princi- 

 pally to be reckoned kestrels, owls, buzzards, crows, moles,, 

 hedgehogs, stoats, weasels, martens, badgers, wild cats, and 



