Is of Great Britain and Ireland
ch with one outlet perpendicularly upwards and
and one beneath the surface of the water.’
lials, and are constantly polishing up their fur, and
E n g l i s h s a y s they are the only animals he has ever seen which can reach
dress their hindquarters with, their own hind feet.
The Water Vole feeds almost exclusively on vegetable matter. In hard
her it will attack potatoes, turnips, and carrots, and the bark of willows and
rs. In summer it lives on duck-weed, American pond weed, the roots of
jr-lilies, marsh marigold, and has a liking, for the succulent and inner portion
:ertain sword-flags. This plant it gnaws off near the root, and after con-
ng it to the nearest landing place consumes it at leisure. In similar fashion
Owing to this vegetarian diet the flesh of the Water Vole is said to be not
alatable, for Buffon tells us that the French peasantry sometimes ate these
Mr. Halting1 says: ‘ There is no truth in the statement that the Water
; is carnivorous,’ but this assertion, I think, requires considerable modifica-
Doubtless the habit of partaking of animal food is very rare, but several
es of the animals eating flesh, fish, and molluscs, vouched for by
need naturalists where confusion with the brown rat was extremely
>t a few writers have imagined that the Water Vole was piscivorous on
b of fish-bones being found in its burrow, but the presence of these bones
p accounted for by the fact that the kingfisher often chooses the hole of
ater Vole as a nesting site. Izaak Walton does not hesitate to dub the
r ’ (Water Vole) as a fish-destroyer with whom ‘ any honest man might
a just quarrel,’ and Cuvier assigns to the Water Vole a diet of ‘ frogs,
small fish, and the fry of greater,’ and even worse charges, such as the
tion of young ducks & c , are laid against this inoffensive creature. Even
in, generally a good observer, says it preys on fish and toads; but in nearly
:ase such destruction is the work of the brown rat.
1 the other hand, however, Mr. A. Patterson, of Great Yarmouth,* say s : ‘ The
the Water Vole is somewhat carnivorously inclined, or rather piscivorous, I
ly satisfied, having observed them on several occasions devouring small fish
a “ rond” beside my house-boat when moored in Kendall.’ And, again, he
Vermin of the Farm, p. ai. * * Mammalia of Great Yarmouth,’ Zoologist, 1898, p. 306.