134 
NATURE NOTES. 
Higham, Northants. Finally it was preached at Bussage, 
Gloucestershire, in 1852, with some further alterations by my 
grandfather, the Rev. F. H. White. 
(3) The original water-colour sketch (ii^ in. by 8 in.) of 
the Hermitage, with the inscription “ S. H. Grimm fecit, 1777.” 
From this was taken the somewhat reduced and distorted oval 
vignette which appears on the title page of the Selborne. The 
original of the vignette is now in possession of the Rev. Edmund 
Field, of Lancing College. Much has obviously been lost in 
the process of reduction. 
Stamford. 
THE PLAGUE OF FIELD VOLES IN SCOTLAND. 
Z^^^HE Report of the Committee appointed by the Board 
Agriculture to enquire into, and if possible devise 
means for combating, this evil, has recently been 
published, and contains much interesting information 
as well as valuable and important suggestions. 
As is the case in former recorded instances of the sudden and 
alarming increase of field voles, or short-tailed field-mice, in 
Essex, Kent and elsewhere, large numbers of owls, particularly 
the short-eared or “ woodcock owl,” were attracted to the scene 
of devastation, and did excellent service in checking the plague. 
Through the senseless persecution of gamekeepers, collectors. 
Sac., the woodcock owl rarely nowadays remains here during the 
summer to breed, even in those districts where it was formerly 
known to do so, but arrives and departs with the woodcock. 
Yet in the present instance, as the following extract from the 
Report will show, it has, owing to the unusual abundance of 
food, deviated in a remarkable manner from its usual custom. 
The Committee state that ; “ Nests in ordinary seasons are of 
comparatively rare occurrence in Great Britain ; but in con- 
sequence of the vast multiplication of their favourite food, the 
vole, these owls have not only arrived in unusual numbers, but 
have remained and bred freely all over the district affected, 
laying from eight to thirteen eggs (though Prof. Newton, in 
his edition of Yarrell’s British Birds mentions seven as an 
unusual number), and rearing more than one brood. The 
shepherd on Crooked-stone, near Cranford, counted fourteen 
nests on his ground. The small wood behind the farm-steading 
of Howpasley presented a remarkable appearance, the ground 
being densely covered with the ‘ pellets ’ or ‘ castings ’ of owls, 
composed of the fur and bones of voles. The fact of these 
owls remaining to breed means of course an immense increase 
in the quantity of field-mice destroyed by them, the numerous 
broods of young birds requiring an abundant and continuous 
