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Updated: June 2, 2025
Nothing is more annoying to such men than to find, when the toils of business are over, and they have settled themselves comfortably into their gardening suits, that some marauder has carried off the very vegetables on which they had prided themselves. The water-vole has been detected in the act of climbing up a ladder which had been left standing against a plum tree, and attacking the fruit.
Now and again a different sound would reach the hollow the dragging tail swish of the water-vole, or the fussy scramble of some belated moorhen. These he soon learned to distinguish from the stealthy, broken, hanging footfall of the beast of prey. When that was heard, both he and his companions would crouch together in the darkest corner of the burrow and hold their breath.
In the winter time, when other food fails, the water-vole, like the hare and rabbit, will eat turnips, mangold-wurzel, the bark of young trees, and similar food.
But in answer to all my shouts there never was any sound at all, except of a rocky echo, or a scared bird hustling away, or the sudden dive of a water-vole; and the place grew thicker and thicker, and the covert grew darker above me, until I thought that the fishes might have good chance of eating me, instead of my eating the fishes.
He was squealing in a most loud and public-spirited fashion from between Pharaoh's jaws, and it was the cat who was swimming. He had just taken a flying leap from the bank and landed full upon the dumbfounded water-vole splash! Then he swam calmly ashore and dined, all wet and cold. Now, what is one to say of such a cat?
Moreover, even putting their food aside, their habits often render them obnoxious to civilised man. The mole, for example, useful as it really is in a field, does very great harm in a garden or lawn, although it eats none of the produce. The water-vole, however, is doubly injurious when the field or garden happens to be near the water-side.
"On pointing out my discovery to the owner of the garden, he said that his losses had been very serious that winter owing to the ravages of these animals, and said that he had brought both dogs and cats down to the stream to hunt for them; but they were too wary to be often caught." I do not think that the owner of the garden knew very much about the characters either of the cat or water-vole.
It certainly was an excellent weapon, and I thought myself tolerably certain of hitting a small apple at twelve yards distance. One day, while walking along the bank of the Cherwell River, I saw a water-vole on the opposite bank. The animal was sitting on a small stump close to the water's edge.
With all its wariness, the water-vole is a strangely nervous creature, being for a time almost paralysed by a sudden shock. This trait of character I discovered quite unexpectedly. Many, many years ago, when I was a young lad, and consequently of a destructive nature, I possessed a pistol, of which I was rather proud.
The voles of the land and water Their remarkable teeth The rodents and their incisor teeth The tooth and the chisel The skate "iron" Chewing the cud Teeth of the elephant Feet of the water-vole A false accusation Water-voles in gardens Winter stores Cats and water-voles Subterranean pioneering Mental character of the water-vole Standing fire Its mode of eating. Plop!
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