THE BATS. 17 



may be often seen at the bottom of streams and ditches, 

 turning over the stones. " The food appears to be taken 

 at the moment the stone was raised from its resting-place, 

 though in some instances by the animal merely poking its 

 long snout under the stone without lifting it, but in every 

 case when caught it was conveyed to the side to be de- 

 voured. . . . This food appears to be chiefly composed of 

 the Gammarus pulex, a sessile-eyed crustacean inhabiting 

 our streams." Bell goes on to say : " We do not know 

 whether the water-shrew is piscivorous in its habits, though 

 it is not unlikely that it may feed on the spawn or fry of 

 minnows and other small fish ; but to its carnivorous pro- 

 pensities we can ourselves bear testimony." 



This water-shrew is a very pretty little animal, nearly 

 black over its back and upper parts, with perfect white on 

 belly and under parts. It is very rapid in its motion when 

 under water, dives and swims with the greatest velocity, 

 and when under water its coat is covered with bubbles of 

 air, looking like silver globules, the hair being perfectly 

 impermeable to water. It is a favourite food of the weasel, 

 who will often follow it into the water ; but as the weasel 

 is not an adept at diving, Master Shrew beats him in this 

 element, and thus saves his life. 



There is another species (Sorex pygmans), the lesser 

 shrew, found throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

 Its habits are similar to the common shrew, but it is much 

 smaller. It is subject to the same mysterious mortality in 

 the autumn. 



THE BATS. 



Some of our bats are constantly found by the river- side, 

 at eventide, particularly the GREAT BAT (Scotophilus noctula), 

 the PIPISTRELLE (S. pipistrellus\ DAUBENTON'S BAT (Vesper- 

 tilio Daubentonii), and the LONG-EARED BAT (Plecotus auritus), 

 all of the family Vespertilionidce. 



Much superstition was formerly attached to bats, probably 

 on account of the earlier naturalists believing them to be 

 neither fowls of the air nor beasts of the field. Aristotle 



