THE MEADOW VOLE, COMMON VOLE, OR MEADOW MOUSE.

One of the gamest fighters for his size of any animal that is to be found among the surviving mammals of Indiana is the meadow vole. Its bite is severe, and it will fight a dog to a finish, and will often win its life in the battle. A farm dog who knows the fighting qualities of a vole watches to get the upper hold of it and always kills it.

During the fall of 1911 the voles were very common. And it seemed that they knew of the coming hard cold winter. Their numbers, this spring of 1912, were not as great as in other years, only the strongest individuals having survived the winter.

HOUSE MOUSE.

There is scarcely a house without this little rodent, who gnaws his way through everything he can find. Nothing is safe from his craving appetite, which seems insatiable.

Nothing is more disgusting than to live in a house infested with mice, that leave their rank, foul odor behind them and spoil more provisions than they eat. They multiply rapidly, rearing from four to six broods a year.

The damage the mouse does is great. Since coming with the first settlers he has followed them across the continent. And the cost of keeping him has been billions of dollars. After he has left his odor upon corn or grain, it is really not fit to feed to stock. You will find him in the woods or in the field building his large nests beneath a grain shock or under a corn shock where he will build a large nest of corn silk, and live in contentment and plenty.

THE BATS.

There are three or four species found in this country, the most common being the red bat. I believe that bats migrate to a certain extent. They delight to live in a hollow tree or a hole in the house or barn, where they can spend the winter, and they do not appear until it is warm weather, generally about the last of April or

first of May. Flying in the twilight when the insects are most numerous they appear like phantoms. When they appear it is said. to be good corn weather, and that the nights will be warm.

They are highly beneficial to the farmer. The number of insects that they catch is beyond computation. But how they can catch such small minute insects as tiny flies and mosquitoes in the darkest night is not known.

They are, I believe, possessed of a sixth sense, which enables them to catch their food by location. This sense is neither sight nor touch. I would call it the sense of location. They are able to tell the exact spot where an insect is in the air, whether at twilight or later in the night. Are their eyes microscopic? And can they see the minute insects they catch? It has always been a wonder to me how they did it. If we knew or possessed this sense what a wonderful thing it would be for our protection and self-preservation in avoiding trains, automobiles, motorcycles and street cars, and other conveniences of modern life.