In confinement sexual activity was largely inhibited and attempts to establish a laboratory colony met with failure. Sexual activity was observed mainly in recently captured males, and their interest was aroused chiefly by females that had given birth to litters within a few hours previously. Oestrus is known to follow closely after parturition. Females found in live-traps with newborn young often were brought to the laboratory for observation. An apparent instance of hostility between rival males competing for an oestrus female was observed on September 2, 1950. The female was found in a trap with four newborn young, and since the young had not yet attached to her teats, she was temporarily returned to the trap after recording, to prevent desertion of the litter. Returning twenty minutes later I found another adult vole at this trap. It would suddenly emerge from dense grass nearby, and would move over the trap or around it, with jerky, halting movements, then would dart back under cover. The female emerged from the nest box into the trap runway, and sniffed at the other, and both pressed against the intervening wire barrier. There was gnawing on the wire by one or both. A third adult vole appeared. As it moved toward the trap, all three suddenly took alarm and darted back under cover, the female hiding in the trap nest box. In a few seconds they again appeared. The two outsiders, presumably both males, were not individually recognizable, but several times one was seen to dart at the other, chasing it away momentarily. They were seldom both in sight at once.
Males confined with post-partum females usually evinced sexual interest, following them about persistently and nuzzling their genitalia. The females, however, were often unreceptive perhaps because they were disturbed by strange surroundings and by the presence of their litters, so that they usually attempted to escape, or to rebuff the male's attention. At first the female might flee, squeaking in protest at the male's pursuit. If he still continued to follow, she would turn on him, rearing back in the characteristic threatening pose, and would lunge at him, striking him sharply or driving him back. After such rebuff, males were usually intimidated or discouraged so that they temporarily or permanently abandoned their advances, and small males were more easily rebuffed than were larger individuals. On several occasions large males having enlarged testes were not readily rebuffed by females but continued to follow them. When the female turned upon him, such a male might lunge against her, throwing her off balance, and causing her to attempt to escape, and then continuing the pursuit until it ended in copulation or in more severe fighting. Although not accepted sexually, a rebuffed male might be readily accepted as a nest-mate, huddling along with the female and perhaps other individuals of both sexes. In huddling voles, the most frequently observed type of social behavior was grooming; one individual would slide its chin or muzzle through the other's fur with a stroking movement consisting of a series of rapid forward jerks and the stroking movements might continue for periods of minutes. The recipient of the grooming usually made no evident response indicative of either pleasure or displeasure. Often it seemed to be sleeping while the grooming was performed. Individuals of both sexes performed this grooming and the recipient might be of either the same sex or the opposite sex. This grooming may have some significance as a search for ectoparasites such as fleas, or mites that often infest the voles. However, after prolonged grooming by a companion, a vole's fur was of mussed and disarranged appearance. Although the grooming that occurs between voles that are resting in nests seems to have no direct significance as sexual behavior, somewhat similar actions constitute part of the mating pattern. A sexually aroused male overtaking a receptive female, slides his chin forward along her back with jerky, stroking movements. In some observed instances this behavior continued intermittently for several minutes before actual copulation. In some other instances it was almost lacking.