Centuries of isolation in a restricted area, where the grass is not so rich and
conditions of life are altogether less favourable, have caused the Sanday Vole to
deteriorate into a smaller race than the parent form. The island of Sanday lies
about thirty miles north-east of Pomona, and contains about 12,000 acres of land.
It is twelve miles long from north-east to south-west. On the east side the soil
is sandy and covered with bent grass, in which Voles are fairly plentiful. I have
visited it in winter and found the climate very mild—more so than in Pomona.
I am indebted to my friend Mr. George Sim, of Aberdeen, for the first
specimens of this sub-species, and have little doubt that it also inhabits the island
of North Ronaldshay, but at the time of going to press I have not received
specimens from that island.
D istribution.—So far the Orkney Vole, which was first described by myself
as a new species in 1904, seems to be confined to the Orkney Islands. It is
abundant on the main island of Pomona, and on all the other islands of the group
which are of any size, except Hoy. In Hoy it may yet be found, but the general
character of the island is too rocky and peaty to afford a suitable habitat.
I have been at considerable labour to obtain this species in Shetland, where
I believe it may occur, or did occur until quite recently, but so far without
success. In 1901 I spent some time in examining the country about Scalloway,
as well as in North Maven and Yell, and questioning the natives, but without
seeing a single * run,’ or obtaining any information that was satisfactory. In 1904
I made a very complete survey of the eastern side of the principal island, from
North Rooe to Lerwick.1 Here I met the recent tenant of Bressay, who assured
me that a short-tailed Vole occurred in that island. A visit to Bressay, however,
convinced me it was not there; but wandering on the hills one day I met a
simple shepherd who, on my showing him a drawing of the Orkney Vole, said:
‘ I ken yon beast fine. It is not here, but lives in Whalsey, where I come from.
I have several times seen and caught it when I was a lad, “ runnin’ the night.
I was in high spirits, and made haste back to Lerwick, where I caught the first
steamer to Whalsey.
Whalsey is a wild island off the east of Shetland, where I had great difficulty
in finding a place in which to lay my head; I wandered in the rain for six
1 1 did not work the south-west of the main island, for did the Vole exist there, Mr. Henderson of Dunrowness would
certainly have obtained it. . ^ ,
2 1 Running the night,’ a curious old Shetland custom. A youth who desires to court his sweetheart goes at night and
creeps into the house of his innamorata, where he stays till daybreak, when by etiquette he is obliged to depart before the
household awakes. It corresponds to the Dutch Oppsitting.
VOL. I I.
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