Robert Hickman, age 1?, of Indianapolis, Ind., for his question:

What is a vole?

The various voles are members of the huge rodent clan. They are mousy animals who prefer outdoor life. The meadow mouse and the field mouse are voles. These little fellows often do a great deal of damage to crops. One of the duties of a farm cat is to keep down the vole population.

At first sight, you might mistake a vole for a rat or a mouse. However, there are differences. Rats and mice have sharp, pointed noses. Voles have blunter, more rounded noses. The voles have shortish tails and very small ears. Their bodies are usually stouter and morn chubby than those of their ratty cousins.

The name vole is from a Norse word for field and the vole was original volomouse ‑ fieldmouse.