A MINIATURE BRITISH FAUNA 117 



these being of both sexes and all ages. We have 

 carefully examined many found in this way, and all 

 seemed well nourished and without perceptible 

 wound or injury. That shrews are eaten by owls 

 we have abundant proof. 



Although generally distributed the water-shrew 

 is not so common as the one described above, yet 

 it can hardly be said to be rare in Britain. Its fur 

 is sleek and soft, of a warm brownish colour, with 

 occasional silvery hairs. In dry situations the coat 

 inclines to chestnut, and even red, with the under 

 parts greyish. The tail is long, compressed, and 

 covered with short hairs. The water-shrew is con- 

 siderably larger than his common cousin, and in- 

 teresting it is to watch him from the bank, sporting 

 among the thick succulent herbage, and constantly 

 prying under the broad leaves of the aquatic plants 

 that float on the surface of the water. When this 

 shrew is swimming its sides appear inflated. It 

 frequently turns over when in the water, displaying 

 its silvery belly, and it is fond of sunning itself 

 among the grass and herbage on the margins of the 

 pools and ditches which it frequents. Wide areas 

 of low-lying moss-land are favourite resorts of the 

 water-shrew, though it is sometimes found at a 

 considerable distance from water. It is certainly 

 no enemy to the farmer, for its food consists entirely 

 of insects, larvae and worms ; and hence it is that we 



