THE PLA.GUE OF VOLES IN SCOTLAND.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:]
SIR,—In Knight's "English Encyclopedia" (art. " Murida3") reference is made to an invasion of the Forest of Dean in 1814 by field-voles, or short-tailed field-mice. Traps and poisons of many kinds were tried, but the most effectual means of destroying them is stated to have been digging boles in the earth eighteen inches deep, eighteen by nine inches at the surface, and six inches longer and six inches wider at the bottom. These holes were placed at intervals of "about twenty yards asunder, or about twelve on an acre." Nearly thirty thousand mice were caught in this manner, and it was supposed that a far greater number had been taken out of the holes, alive or dead, by stoats, weazels, kites, owls, crows, magpies, &c. It would be interesting to know whether this method has been tried in those parts of Scotland that have recently suffered so severely from this calamity.—I am, Sir,
H. C. F.
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