304 



THE NATURE BOOK 



cloudy night, at times appearing to gleam, 

 almost as if they were phosphorescent. 

 This effect is probably due to the ex- 

 ceeding purity of the white petals. It is 

 certainly a difficult problem to solve. 

 as to why it is that the petals of these 

 night-blooming species are influenced in 

 an opposite way to ordinary fiowers by 

 the failing light. Still more strange is 

 it to obser\'e that whilst the White 

 Campion only displays its flowers during 

 the night, the Red Campion behaves in 

 an exactly reverse manner. Its flowers 



being coloured, would make no show at 

 night, and we may, therefore, find them 

 fully open under the mid-day sun. These 

 distinct habits are all the more remark- 

 able, when we remember that the two 

 forms are so closely related ; indeed 

 Hooker considered that the Red Campion 

 was only a variety of the white species. 

 It is not a httle remarkable that an 

 alteration in colour should involve 

 such a complete change in the habits of 

 a plant as is seen in the case of the 

 Campion. 



S. Leonard Bastin. 



HOW TO KNOW THE WILD ANIMALS 



By DOUGLAS ENGLISH, B.A., F.R.P.S. 

 Author of "Wee Tim'rous Beasties," etc. 



THE SHREW MICE— I 



THE WATER SHREW MOUSE. THE COMMON SHREW MOUSE. 



THE PYGMY SHREW MOUSE. 



With Photographs by the Author 



UNLIKE the allied Hedgehog and 

 Mole, who have, in a sense, com- 

 pelled observation — the one by 

 the spiked defence with which he is sur- 

 rounded, the other by the mysterious 

 earthworks with which he surrounds 

 himself — Shrew Mice, owing to their 

 small size, the indeterminate nature of 

 their runs, and their superficial resem- 

 blance to mouse kind in general, have 

 failed to secure, either from author or 

 artist, the attention which their qualities 

 deserve. Such interest as they have 

 aroused has, unfortunately for them, been 

 chiefly of a superstitious character. Top- 

 sell ])ictures them as ravening, venomous, 

 cruel and fraudulent.* Gilbert White con- 

 tents himself with a description of the 

 " Shrew Ash " ceremony, which has been 

 copied from book to book to the present 

 day, and has found, it is to be hoped, its 

 last resting-place in Millais' ponderous 

 volumes. 



• " History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents." 

 London, 1658. 



The superstition that Shrew Mice are 

 in some fashion venomous, is ancient 

 and widespread, and it may be in con- 

 sequence of this superstition that so many 

 pictures of Shrew Mice appear to have 

 been drawn (at a respectful distance) 

 from dead specimens. Such drawings 

 tend to promote rather than to decrease 

 ignorance, and if my photographs serve, 

 as I trust they may, to dispel the illusion 

 that a living Shrew Mouse's nose curls 

 normally downwards, that there is a 

 deep dei)ression on the nape of his neck, 

 and that his fur presents in life a sodden 

 and si)irituous appearance, I shall feel 

 compensated for the labour and dis- 

 appointments which this particular branch 

 of photography have involved. 



The keynote of the Shrew Mouse's 

 character is restlessness. Most animals 

 ad()j)t, on occasions other than those of 

 rest, attitudes which though suggestive 

 of movement are nevertheless aj:)jn"eciably 

 maintained. It is on the instant recog- 

 nition of these attitudes, a power which 



