236 
Verhiin of ilie Fdrni. 
of 1875-76, and partly to the destruction that had long been 
meted out to such raptorial birds as the buzzard, the marsh 
harrier, the hen harrier, the kestrel, and the owl, and to such 
carnivorous mammals as the badger, the stoat, and the weasel. 
In a recently published letter,* Dr. W. B. Wall, of Pembroke, 
expresses the opinion that the voles, “ in consequence of the wet 
season, have been compelled to migrate from their usual haunts, 
the lowlying moorlands, and seek food at a higher level.” 
He adds : — 
“ The chief enemies of the voles are the short-eared owl {Otus bmchyotus) 
and the kestrel hawk, which will do more to reduce their ranks than 
all the traps of the agriculturist and the microbes of the scientists 
combined. The kestrel hawk is known to all, duly appreciated by a few, 
but still destroyed by too many. The short-eared owl is one of our most 
valuable winter visitors, arriving about October, and leaving usually in 
March. It frequents the open moors, alights and secretes itself on the 
ground, in preference to trees, and feeds by day as well as in the evening. 
In the winter of 1887-8 the moors were crowded with these birds, it being 
no uncommon occurrence to start two or more at the same time from the 
long grass ; the explanation of their numbers no doubt being that the pre- 
ceding dry summer had been most favourable to the increase of the animal 
life of the moors, which supplied ample food and inducement for the birds 
to congregate. Let the agriculturists of the Border counties, and any other 
parts which may be similarly afflicted, act the sensible part of protecting 
these invaluable birds, giving any delinquent found shooting them reason 
to realise and remember his energies are misdirected, and that by so doing 
he proves himself the worst of enemies to the suffering agriculturists.” 
The jay and magpie destroy quantities of young field mice, 
systematically searching for their nests, and turning them out.** 
Formidable as the field vole may prove itself to the agri- 
culturist, it is not less so to the forester. In 1813 both the 
New Forest of Hampshire and the Forest of Dean, in Gloucester- 
shire, were the scenes of attack, and vast numbers of five-year- 
old oaks and chestnuts were eaten through close to the ground. 
The voles had a special predilection for hollies, and, having 
barked the stem, they would climb 5 ft. or 6 ft. and strip the 
branches. The animals were trapped by holes dug in the ground. 
As relating to this part of the subject Mr. W. H. Tuck sent to 
The Times of May 16, 1892, the following extract from an old 
book on forest lore describing the plan adopted in the Forest 
of Dean in 1813 : — 
Holes about 2 ft. long and 10 in. broad at the top, and somewhat 
larger every way at the bottom, were made at 20 yards apart, over about 
3,200 acres of plantation. Persons went round early in the morning to 
destroy such mice as might be found in the holes. In this way . . . 30,000 
Morning Post, Jan. 26, 1892. 
Appendix, House of Commons Wild Birds Committee Report, 1873. 
