THE WATER SHREW 99 



found along the hedgerows and in ditches, without any 

 evident cause of death. There is no apparent external 

 injury, and certainly they have not met their end by 

 weasels, hawks, or owls, or other of their natural enemies, 

 or they would have devoured them. It has been suggested 

 that with the autumn there comes a lack of food owing to 

 the decreasing insect life, and that is the best explanation 

 that can be given, and only surmise at that. 



The Pigmy Shrew (Sorex minutus), an inch shorter than 

 the foregoing, is the smallest of our British mammals. 



It was a common superstition in olden times that the 

 merest contact with a Shrew inflicted injury upon cattle. 

 In some villages a pollard ash-tree was selected to form the 

 ' Shrew Ash.' A hole was bored in the trunk, a poor little 

 Shrew was inclosed in it alive, and then the hole was 

 plugged up. It was believed that the twigs and branches 

 of the tree possessed curative qualities when applied to 

 animals suffering from the touch of the Shrew. 



WATER SHREW (Sorex fodiens). 

 Coloured Plate IV. Fig. 7. 



Slightly larger than the common species, the Water Shrew 

 is chiefly blackish-brown in colour ; the feet and under- 

 surface of the tail are fringed with long white hairs. It 

 burrows into the banks of streams and is very aquatic in its 

 habits. It possesses valved ears, which automatically close 

 immediately the Shrew enters water. 



It is interesting to watch the little creature dive into clear 

 water, at the bottom of which it is able to remain a long 

 time. On land the weasel preys upon it ; in the water the 

 voracious pike views it as a tasty morsel. 



'Its swimming/ says Mr. Bell, ' is principally effected by 

 the alternate action of its hinder feet, which produces an 

 unequal or wriggling motion ; it makes its way, however, 

 with great velocity. With its belly flattened, the sides, as 

 it were, spread out, and the tail extended backwards as 

 a rudder, it forms a very beautiful and pleasing object, 

 moving on the calm surface of a quiet brook or diving, 



