taken advantage of some cover, our amphibious friend will simply stare at you
and go on with his dinner. I was crawling along, stalking some young rabbits,
one May morning, when a Water Vole came out of the water of a brook almost
at my elbow. A small bramble bush partly hid me from his view as he landed
on the opposite bank. Here he sat up and kept alternately staring at me and
trying the wind. Then, doubtless satisfied that I was only some strange tree-
stump, he walked to the water’s edge and reached out for a leaf of marsh
marigold which was growing in profusion around him. For five minutes I had
an excellent view of his mode of feeding. Balancing himself on his hind legs he
seized a leaf by its supporting stem: this he bit off about one inch below the
leaf, and then quickly resuming a sitting-up posture, and at the same time
transferring his food to the forepaws, he rapidly devoured both stem and leaf.
In this manner he quickly cleared a small plant of its young growth, but did not
touch the flowers or the larger leaves. Having exhausted the resources of his
immediate surroundings he quickly plunged into the water, dived, and disappeared
from view.
The Water Vole is a fairly fast swimmer, but not to be compared in diving
powers or rapidity of movement with the brown rat,1 and like the beaver may often
be seen swimming with the hind legs only. It dives with ease and swims faster
under water than on the surface. When moving on the surface it exposes the
whole of the head and back; but if it suspects danger it can ‘ sink ’ the body and
show only the nose. As it generally emerges close under a bank it takes advantage
of the cover of a leaf or floating waterweed, and so becomes practically invisible.
In such a position it will remain stationary for some minutes.
Mr. Douglas English, who has been so kind as to photograph most of the
smaller British mammals for me, and who is himself a keen lover of nature as
well as an accurate observer—two things not always synonymous—sends me the
following interesting notes on the Water Vole :
‘ I have frequently kept Water Voles in captivity, and have found them
hardy and, in most cases, easily tamed. I have never been able to induce a
Water Vole to eat anything outside the vegetable kingdom, and I have never
trapped a Water Vole with anything but a vegetable root.
‘ For keeping them in captivity I have realised that the first essential to
1 I have often tested this in a pond. In a very long swim, however, I believe the Water Vole would have the best of
it, as it would rest afloat on the surface, as a beaver does, when it became tired, whereas the terrestrial brown rat would
probably become frightened and ‘ race ’ itself to death by drowning.
their well-being is that they shall have an adequate supply of water. It is not
sufficient that they should have only a drinking supply, they must have facilities
for a compléte, plunge-bath. In default of this they will, in two or three days’
time, be practically blinded by the solidification of the oily matter which is secreted
round or from their eyelids. It cakes into a white wax, but the complaint is
cured in a few hours by a return to more normal surroundings.
‘ I have recently kept a pair in a galvanised iron tank, tilted so as to ensure
six inches in depth of water at one end and terra firm a at the other, and I have
observed them mainly with the intention of discovering the reason of my frequent
failures to mark a Water Vole’s emergence after he had once dived. I was
helped to at least a partial solution of my difficulty by the fact that a considerable
quantity of dead leaves and other rubbish was blown into the tank, which was
always open at the top. In course of time portions of this sank to the bottom;
other portions remained floating on the surface.
‘ I came to the following conclusions:
‘ (i) The Water Vole does not normally stay below the surface for more than
twenty seconds. Apart from breathing difficulties, a longer period of submergence
has the effect of soddening his long hair and wetting his skin. After a normal
dive his skin is practically dry.
‘ (2) I f he suspects danger he will rise under some kind of cover, such as
a floating leaf. He will raise this on his nostrils so that he can breathe, and
yet in the shadow of it be practically invisible.
‘ (3) I n default of floating cover he will take up cover from the bottom. I
noticed this so frequently that I cannot avoid the conclusion that it is instinctive.’
The burrows are often long and rambling, but usually have two upper
surface holes, and at least one sub-aquatic one. Where a colony has been long
in residence these galleries, from being constantly extended, often let the water
out of canals and mill-dams. Speaking of the burrows Mr. English say s :
‘ It is generally recognised that at least one entrance to a Water Vole’s
burrow is sub-aquatic. It was impossible for my Voles to burrow in the rockery
hill which I had provided for them. In the hard weather (for some days the six-
inch depth of water was frozen solid) I provided them with some hay. They
stood the frost well, but, as far as I could determine, made no use of the hay
as nest material. When the thaw came they constructed a burrow. In the first
place they completely wetted the hay. Any fresh supply was similarly treated.
Out of the wetted hay they made a nest, or rather a succession of nests (for the