e
terrier's mouth. His final recollection was of five and twenty small
corpses laid out in a neat row upon the stable floor. Perhaps half a
dozen of his companions had escaped by burrowing in the corn.

* * * * *

[Illustration: A CLAMBER ALONG A HALF-INCH LEDGE.]

[Illustration: A FRANTIC SCRAMBLE LANDED THEM OVER THE EDGE OF THE BIN.]

He awoke with a start this time, for the trap had suddenly turned up on
end. The door was standing open, but a shadow hung across it, and the
mouse felt the shadow--_and shrieked_.

[Illustration]

THE STORY OF A FIELD VOLE

His earliest recollections were somewhat confused, nor is this to be
wondered at, for he was one of eight, and in the same hole lived another
family of seven, fifteen tiny creatures in all, of the same age and
outwardly indistinguishable.

Under such circumstances it is difficult to retain one's individuality,
let alone one's impressions. Moreover some little time had elapsed before
he really _saw_ his companions. Not that he was long actually blind,--that
is the prerogative of the carnivora, but his career commenced some feet
below the surface of the earth, at the termination of a long winding
burrow, and a full fortnight had elapsed before he eluded his mother's
vigilance, and, after a clumsy scrambling ascent, beheld for the first
time the tall green grasses which shrouded the entrance, and the blue of
the sky peeping down irregularly between them.

[Illustration: HIS FIRST SENSATION WAS ONE OF EXTREME COLD.]

His first sensation was one of extreme cold, for his fur was at this time
little better than down; Nature's brilliant colouring only dazzled and
frightened him; his tender skin shrank from contact with the sharp-edged
herbage, and, after a short blundering excursion, he was glad to scuttle
down below once more.

His next effort was more successful. His fur had thickened, and, like all
good voles, he had the sense to defer his exit until the evening. Still,
even when he had reached the mature age of three weeks, the murky, warm
atmosphere below ground proved more seductive than any other, and he spent
the greater portion of his existence there, sleeping, nest-making, or
fighting with a companion over food.

The making and re-making of the nest was learnt on kindergarten principles.
At first he was employed in softening slender grass filaments, by dragging
them through his teeth; then he learnt to intertwin