SMALL DEER-OUR RODENTS 147 
summut like the old master did arter he cum out o' 
that 'ere sheep-dippin' hole.' 
The modern system of drainage, although it con- 
fers untold benefits on all classes of society, is destruc- 
tion to the water-shrews ; they can only exist under 
certain conditions ; and it is only on and about more 
or less decayed vegetation, as a rule, that their food 
can be found. It is true, I have found them in the 
pure rills of a moorland district, and have watched 
them nose and poke all along the margins, shoot over 
the sandy bottoms, come out to run over the rootlets, 
plunge in again to poke about as before ; they must 
have the minute forms of insect life, either mature or 
immature, to feed on. But the proper place to look for 
them is where the water dribbles from some old dis- 
used culvert or drain in the water-meadows, where 
a small pool of a few gallons of water has formed. 
The spot ' where the old master pitched in ' is larger 
than what I have described, for although the sheep- 
dipping hole has been filled up since the course of 
the water was altered to make a new fish-pond, there 
is enough left still to fill an ordinary water-butt, just 
where it trickles down from the old drain. There is 
a continual trickle, the run of some small springs. 
The brick wall is going to decay, and the whole will 
cave in before long. 
