72 NOTES TO THE 



Josey, hey, jim along, jim along Joe." "He would sing at any 

 time at command. Mr. Searle, my secretary, says lie heard a 

 Itlackbird in the Mile-end Road, whistle the principal parts of the 

 " Huntsman's Chorus " 



If anyone wishes to try the experiment of training a black- 

 bird they must raise one or two .young ones from the nest. As 

 a rule two out of three will take the song taught them. The 

 blackbird is a very pugnacious bird, and this is a drawback to 

 his being kept in an aviary with other small birds. 



LITTLE WATER SHREW (Sorcx fodiens), p. 91. " Little 

 Itod " writes in Land and Water: "It would, I am sure, 

 gratify you to see a brood of these elegant little animals dis- 

 porting themselves in the water. ' It frequents ditches and 

 brooks, in the banks of which it makes extensive burrows. It 

 swims and dives with much address, the sides being spread 

 out, the belly flattened, and the tail extended as a rudder. 

 When diving, the black glossy coat of the animal appears as 

 if beautifully frosted over with silver, from the innumerable 

 bubbles of air that cover it.' The above quotation is from the 

 ' Museum of Animated Nature.' I have good reason to believe 

 that the water shrew, though seldom seen except by some keen- 

 sighted naturalist, especially one of angling proclivities, is not 

 particularly scarce. I have frequently noticed it of late years 

 in various parts of Cumberland. During the very droughty 

 summer of 1868, when a brook which ran through a neigh- 

 bour's garden was dried up, all but a little pool here and there, 

 I was much amused by watching a couple of them as they 

 stealthily left the overhanging bank and ran to the pool, sip- 

 ping a few drops in haste, and then scurrying away to their 

 stronghold, as if astounded at their temerity in exposing them- 

 selves to the gaze of one who certainly entertained no hostile 

 intentions towards such harmless little creatures." 



These little creatures eat insects and fish ; their teeth are very 

 beautiful. I once dissected a water shrew. The stomach and intes- 

 tines contained some dark fluid pulp-like matter. This I examined 

 under the microscope and found to be composed almost entirely 

 of the horny cases and legs of minute water-insects. 



THE SHREW MOUSE, p. 199. White here mentions the shrew 

 mouse. These little things are often found dead without any 

 apparent mark of injury ; some say that the cats kill them, but 

 will not eat them. 



According to Mr. Davy's experience, shrew mice are silly 

 things; they get into dry ditches and cart-ruts, then run up 



