144 THE WATER SHREW. 



water shrew inhabits places that secrete it from ge- 

 neral notice, and appears to move only in the even- 

 ings, which occasions its being so seldom observed. 

 That this creature was an occasional resident in our 

 neighbourhood was manifest from the dead bodies 

 of two or three having occurred in my walks ; but 

 it was some time before I discovered a little colony 

 of them quietly settled in one of my ponds, over- 

 shadowed with bushes and foliage. It is very amus- 

 ing to observe the actions of these creatures, all life 

 and animation in an element they could not be 

 thought any way calculated for enjoying; but they 

 swim admirably, frolicking over the floating leaves 

 of the pond weed, and up the foliage of the flags, 

 which, bending with their weight, will at times 

 souse them in the pool, and away they scramble to 

 another, searching apparently for the insects that 

 frequent such places, and feeding on drowned moths 

 (phalaena potamogeta) and similar insects. They 

 run along the margin of the water, rooting amid the 

 leaves and mud with their long noses for food, like 

 little ducks, with great earnestness and perseverance. 

 Their power of vision seems limited to a confined 

 circumference. The smallness of their eyes, and 

 the growth of the fur about them, are convenient 

 for the habits of the animal, but impediments to 

 extended vision ; so that, with caution, we can 

 approach them in their gambols, and observe all 

 their actions. The general blackness of the body, 



