Part 7

Regarding the means of destroying those mice which are sometimes damaging to agriculture (M. sylvaticus and M. minutus), see methods mentioned under “Field-vole” (p. 43).

Family: =Arvicolidæ= (Vole Family).

The large voles are also popularly called “rats,” the smaller ones “mice.” They closely resemble the true mice and rats (p. 38), but are distinguished from them by their plumper, more compressed body; a thicker head with blunt snout, and ears quite hidden in the fur; and a short, tolerably hairy tail, on which no rings of scales can be distinguished. There are on each side of each jaw three back teeth, of which each appears to consist of two rows of three-sided prisms, fused together along the middle line (cp. Figs. 24 and 23). The native species all belong to the genus Arvicola; the Bank Vole (Arvicola glareolus), the Water Rat, or Water Vole (A. amphibius), and the Short-tailed Field Mouse, or Field Vole (A. agrestis).

The brownish-red =Bank Vole= (A. glareolus) occurs in forests.

The =Water Rat=, or =Water Vole= (A. amphibius). Body six inches long, tail half the length of the body. Fur of one colour, brighter on the under side, varying from brownish grey to brownish black on the back, and from whitish to greyish black on the belly. On the banks of rivers, brooks, ditches, canals, etc.; also on damp low-lying meadows and fields. Digs much-branched passages in the soil; this often takes place in embankments to such an extent that it finally leads to their complete destruction. The vole also does damage in grass-fields and cornfields in the same way as the mole (p. 33). In its case, however, there is no compensating service. It certainly eats insects and worms, but its chief food is of vegetable nature; grain, potatoes, turnips, and carrots are devoured by it in large quantity, and in particular stored up in its hiding-place. It also destroys the roots of grass and corn, and eagerly devours chickens and the eggs of ducks and geese. A variety (A. amphibius, var. terrestris) occurs in dry soils, and is distinguished by its smaller size, lighter colour, and shorter tail. Its habits are the same as those of the ordinary form, but it is more given to attacking trees.

Traps, shooting, poisoning with celery stumps hollowed out and filled with phosphorus, or else with phosphorus paste.

The =Field Vole=, or =Short-tailed Field Mouse= (A. agrestis). A small animal, with dark brownish grey back and greyish white belly. [Lives in pastures, especially those which are low-lying and damp. Large numbers are found together, and they make deep burrows in the soil, each pair having a special nest to themselves. Three, four, or even more litters per year; four to ten young in each litter. Its favourite food consists of roots, young shoots of grass, etc., and the tender bark of shrubs, but nothing of vegetable nature comes amiss. Specially destructive in permanent pasture.]

REMEDIES. (a) Preventive measures. Protection of its natural enemies (weasel, stoat, polecat, fox, hedgehog, owls, buzzards, kestrels, the smaller seagulls). Catching in traps, etc., in the spring, when the voles are only present in small numbers.

(b) Destructive measures, which should be as generally used as possible in infested districts. If a field has been completely devastated, or the crop is over: (1) Working the soil with a spiked roller; (2) Partial inundation of the lower-lying fields. If it is desired to kill the voles and spare the crop as well, the following means may be recommended: (1) The digging of cylindrical holes six inches across and two feet deep, especially at the margins of the fields and in the furrows, as well as—at harvest time—on any footpaths that may be found. The voles fall into these holes, cannot get out again, and are starved. (2) The employment of poisons. (Care must be taken that no children or domestic animals are poisoned.) Phosphorus paste is best.

FIG. 25.—The Southern Field Vole (Arvicola arvalis). ]

The =Southern Field Vole= (A. arvalis) plays the same destructive part on the Continent that the preceding form does here (Fig. 25). Remedies—see above.

ORDER: =Ruminantia= (CUD-CHEWING MAMMALS).

The feet end in two hoof-covered toes, besides which two “after toes” are present. The upper incisors are absent, with few exceptions, but many deer have canines in the upper jaw. The back teeth of Ruminants are compound teeth. The lower jaw is smaller than the upper, and during chewing undergoes lateral movements, so that the plants taken in as food are ground up, as it were, into small pieces, between the projecting enamel ridges of the upper and lower back teeth. The stomach consists of four subdivisions; these are (1) the rumen, or paunch, where the greater part of the food and water taken collects; (2) the reticulum, or honey-comb stomach; (3) the psalterium, or manyplies; (4) the abomasum, reed, or rennet stomach. The last is the second largest part, and in it the same chemical changes take place as in the simple stomach of a non-ruminant. After the food has remained for some time in the paunch it passes up again through the gullet, and [as the “cud”] undergoes a second chewing. The soft mass resulting is once more swallowed, and passes into the psalterium and abomasum.

FIG. 26.—Skull of a Sheep. ]

Not only the families of Tylopoda (Camels, Llamas), and Camelopardalidæ (Giraffes), but also the large family of Cavicornia, to which, amongst others, the ox, sheep, and goat belong, will be passed over in this book. I need only mention the—

Family: =Cervidæ= (Deer Family).

Deer have branched horns, known as antlers. With the solitary exception of the reindeer, they are only found in the males. They are bony structures borne upon projecting knobs (horn cores) of the frontal lines. After each rutting-season the antlers are cast, new ones, clothed at first with a soft skin [the “velvet”], are developed. Before the next rutting-season the dermal part of the skin unites firmly with the underlying antler, and becomes itself ossified, while the epidermis shrivels up, partly peels off in bits, and is partly rubbed off by the animal against tree trunks. If the conditions of life (food, weather) are favourable, the animal acquires a new side branch to each antler every year, at any rate, so long as he continues to get bigger and stronger. The one-year-old male (“brocket”) has therefore a simple unbranched antler, the two-year-old (“spayad”) one side branch as well, the three-year-old (“sorel”) three points in all; the four-year-old (“staggard”) has four points; the five-year-old (“stag”) five, and so on.

FIG. 27.—Development of Roebuck Antlers. ]

In Britain two indigenous deer are found—the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) and the Roebuck (C. capreolus); a third species, the Fallow Deer (C. dama), lives in South Europe and Asia Minor [and the exact date of its introduction into Britain is not known].

The =Red Deer= (Cervus elaphus). Six to seven feet long, and four feet high. Antlers rough and cylindrical for their entire length; each in its normal condition has two front branches [“brow” and “bez-tyne”], a middle branch [“tres”], and a “crown.” Tail small. Body of a brownish colour, becoming red in summer. A light yellowish brown spot on the tail. Male larger than the female, with long dark hairs on the neck during the breeding season (autumn). The young (“calves”) are spotted with white till their first change of coat in October. The hind brings forth one or rarely two calves in May or the beginning of June. The stag sheds his antlers at the end of February; the new ones are already full-grown in July. So long as they are growing the stag keeps to the low woods, and first seeks the high-lying forests when they are completed. He only leaves the forest for any length of time during the breeding season, but, wherever possible, comes to the field for a short time every evening to feed on cabbages, peas, beans, young corn, clover, lupines, grass, etc. Turnips, carrots, and potatoes, dug out of the ground by the fore legs, are also devoured. In this way red deer do a great deal of damage, not only directly in feeding, but also, to a larger extent, by trampling down the crops. In autumn and winter they chiefly feed on acorns, beechnuts, buds and young shoots of various trees. They also peel the bark from young trees, and often cause damage while rubbing the remains of the velvet from their antlers. Red deer are injurious to agriculture and forestry. Suitable fencing of fields, gardens, etc., to be protected.

The =Roebuck= (Cervus capreolus) measures up to three and a half feet long, and about two feet high. Antlers (Fig. 27) only slightly branched, and rough all over; beams and branches cylindrical. No brow-tynes, and usually only three branches. Tail extremely small and inconspicuous. Legs long and slender. Summer coat greyish brown, passing over to a reddish tint; the longer winter coat brownish grey. A whitish patch on the rump. The young (“fawns”) have at first white spots on a brownish ground.

Breeding season in August. The female (“doe”) brings forth her two fawns in May or June. The roebuck keeps principally to the lower and middle forests, especially in places where glades, rich in grass and herbage, and cornfields or meadows alternate with woodland. In the evening it comes out of the cover to eat in the fields and meadows; towards morning it withdraws again. The roebuck devours both young corn and corn in the ear; also ears of millet, beans, peas, clover, and lupines. It does not appear to touch potatoes and turnips. The bucks in particular do much mischief by trampling about in cornfields.

The =Fallow Deer= (Cervus dama) is about four feet long and three feet high; antlers rough and cylindrical only towards the root, with tolerably smooth, flat, shovel-like ends. Old individuals are pale brown, the summer coat is reddish and brightly spotted; belly whitish; a white patch on the tail. The young have sharply marked bright spots. In its habits this non-indigenous species agrees in many respects with the red deer, but changes its abode less. Towards evening it eagerly leaves the forest in order to seek its food in the cornfields. As the fallow deer lives in large herds its trampling does much damage.

ORDER: =Multungula= or =Pachydermata= (MANY-HOOFED OR THICK-SKINNED MAMMALS).

Non-ruminating hoofed animals with thick, often callous, naked, or scantily haired, frequently bristly skin and with three to five toes, which, though they are not all developed to the same extent, are yet never rudimentary. The various species are very unlike one another as to food and dentition. Here belong domesticated swine, and a single species—formerly occurring wild in Britain—

The =Wild Boar= (Sus scrofa). On each foot four toes, of which the two hinder are small and do not usually touch the ground. The wild boar agrees in the general conformation of its body with the common domesticated swine. Six incisors in upper and lower jaw; the lower ones forwardly directed. The canines, which are more developed in boars than sows, curve outwards and upwards in both jaws as “tusks.” On each side of each jaw seven tuberculated back teeth completely covered with enamel. Length of the body 5 feet 10 inches; length of tail 1 foot 8 inches. Colour: black and rusty brown. The young ones are white, spotted and striped with dark brown. The wild boar likes damp, swampy, but at the same time thickly overgrown districts, where it remains hidden in the day, only seeking the fields and meadows when it has become dark and quite still. It then chiefly feeds on turnips, carrots, and potatoes, rooting them out of the ground; it also devours leguminous crops and grain, but treads down far more of these plants than it eats. Besides this, it also feeds on acorns, beechnuts, hazel-nuts, and truffles. The wild boar does some service by devouring snails, worms, insect larvæ living in the soil, and also the pupæ of destructive species of caterpillars, which occur in the same situation; also voles. Thick hedges, in order to protect the corn from injury.

ORDER: Solidungula (SINGLE-HOOFED MAMMALS),

to which the horse and the ass belong, need not be dealt with here; still less the other orders enumerated on p. 23.