WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



when the following morning I could only find 

 the ' Atom,' I began to wonder what had 

 happened. I could not find the second, and a 

 careful hunt for it failed to discover any trace. 

 In the light of after experience I have no 

 doubt that the ' Mighty Atom ' had not only 

 fought with and conquered the stranger, but 

 had also eaten his foe ! 



Shrews are not at all particular what they 

 eat, meat, cheese, and such things being taken 

 readily in addition to their proper fare, which 

 is grubs and insects of all kinds. Like many 

 other insect-eating creatures they have very 

 quick digestions, and if short of food soon 

 starve to death. For a shrew an hour is a 

 very long time to go without eating, and a fast 

 of only two or three hours is fatal. This is 

 one of the reasons that shrews hunt by day as 

 well as by night, for food must be got at any 

 cost. 



However delicate an animal the common 

 shrew may be, the pigmy or lesser shrew is still 

 more fragile. It is the weest creature that 

 you can imagine. Just like its bigger relation 

 in colour, its body at full stretch is barely 

 two inches in length, that of the common 

 shrew being about three inches when laid 

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