68 



FARM VERMIN, HELPFUL AND HURTFUL, 



allowed to have a fair chance of life, plagues of voles, such 

 as that of 1891-92 in the south of Scotland, are little likely 

 to occur. 



Although the badger often commits a good deal of 

 havoc in the sowings of acorns and beech-nuts as well 

 as in orchards when the fruit is ripening, and though, like 

 the hedgehog it is also guilty of sucking the 

 eggs of song-birds, and even of pheasants, yet the 

 damage they both do is far more than outweighed by their 

 useful services. And the same may be urged e\"en 

 more strenuously on behalf of the mole to which, 

 notwithstanding the annoyance it occasions in gardens, 

 nurseries, and meadows by the mounds it throws 

 up, we should be very grateful for the useful ser- 

 vices it renders in keeping down the numerical increase of 

 voles, earthworms, snails, and grubs on which it feeds. 

 In fact, it is usually only to be found where such vermin 

 abound. Besides being a voracious feeder individually, it 

 produces three to five young ones twice a year, in May and 

 August. The formation of its nest is on a beautiful plan : it 

 consists of two main terraces with numerous exits, so as to 

 provide it with easy means of escape when it is pursued 

 by enemies like the brown rat. 



