The Lemming — The Short-tailed Field-Mouse. 103 
THE LEMMING-, (My odes Lsmmus,) 
Which is a near relation of the water-rat, and of about 
the same size, is covered with fur of a yellowish colour 
variegated with black. This animal resides in the moun- 
tains of Norway and Sweden, and is remarkable for 
performing extraordinary migrations in vast bodies at 
the approach of a severe winter, and making their 
appearance so suddenly and unexpectedly that people 
formerly asserted they had fallen from the clouds. Not- 
withstanding their supposed celestial origin, they are, 
however, very unwelcome visitors, as they devour every- 
thing eatable that comes in their way, and commit de- 
vastations almost as serious as those of the locusts. 
THE SHORT-TAILED FIELD-MOUSE, 
OR FIELD-VOLE. 
This little animal has most wonderful powers of repro- 
duction, and, as it is extremely voracious, it often causes 
an amount of destruction quite out of proportion to its 
size and insignificant appearance. It burrows in the 
ground, like the lemming and water-rat ; and as it gnaws 
through the roots of trees that lie in its way, it has been 
known to cause very serious loss of property. In the 
year 1813 such immense numbers of these creatures were 
collected in some of the forests of the South of England, 
that it was feared all the young trees would be de- 
stroyed, and it was found necessary to organise a war 
of extermination against the invaders. It is said that 
in New Forest alone not less than eighty or a hundred 
thousand mice were killed in one season, and the 
slaughter in other places was quite as great. 
The Field- Vole's favourite food is the bark of trees and 
roots, but, if pressed by hunger, it will attack and devour 
its own kind. 
