Water Shrews 261 



as is almost invariably the case with black-backed specimens. 

 The latter must be very much more conspicuous to their 

 enemies, either upon land or in the water, than the more 

 sombre coloured animal, and ought therefore, perhaps, to 

 be regarded as the latest development of the race. So far 

 as my rather limited opportunities for observing their 

 actions in a wild state have gone, I have always thought 

 that the black-and-white Shrews showed considerably more 

 activity than the others, and were more on the alert. This 

 is, of course, as it should be, if their superiority has rendered 

 it safe for them to assume a more conspicuous garb than 

 their ancestors ; and it may be on account of their greater 

 watchfulness that one sees them less frequently than their 

 dull coloured relatives, and that they are so much less often 

 brought into the house by the kitchen cat. I have some- 

 times thought, too, that the black-and-white variety was 

 more exclusively aquatic in its habits than the others. 



