THE POPLARS 



he devours all kinds of water insects 

 and Crustacea — any aquatic creature, in 

 fact, which is of small dimensions. He 

 catches fish — sticklebacks, minnows and 

 the fry of large species — by the head, 

 carries them ashore, and devours them 

 entire, swinging them from side to side 

 of his jaws, and crunching them with his 

 back teetli, as the Common Shrew Mouse 

 crunches the worm. He appears to enjoy 

 particuiarly a loach, and I ha\-e known 

 him master a small eel after much fuss 

 and splashing in the water. 



It was interesting to note that my 

 captive Water Shrew Mice appeared to 

 have some notion of making a food store. 

 In the course of a night they would in- 

 variably clear their tank of its living 

 contents, and one would find in the 

 morning se^■en or eight small fishes piled 

 neatly in some high, dry corner. The 



Common Shrew Mouse docs much the 

 same with cockroaches. 



Like the Water Rat, the Water Shrew 

 Mouse prefers his bedding wet. It is 

 possible that this is a survival of some 

 instinct which suggests floating as the 

 easiest method of transporting nest 

 material, Ixit I am inclined to think that 

 these aquatic animals keep their bedding 

 moist in order to lessen and alleviate the 

 attentions of their little friends. Slirew 

 Mice are, by instinct, scrupulously clean, 

 and the portion of their toilet during 

 which they are dressing their fur with 

 one hind foot is most interesting to watch. 

 The hind foot works with such rapidity 

 that it a}:)pears a fan-shaped blur, and 

 this blur travels steadily from the ani- 

 mal's ear to the hinder parts of him with 

 a wake of rippling fur in close attendance 

 behind it. 



Douglas English. 



HOW TO KNOW THE TREES 

 GROWING IN BRITAIN 



With Notes, descriptive and photographic, for their Identification 

 in all Seasons of the Year 



By HENRY IRVING 



THE POPLARS 



THERE are three kinds of Poplar 

 that particularly claim our atten- 

 tion. These are the Aspen, the 

 White Poplar, and the Black Poj^lar. In 

 addition we have the tall Loml^ardy 

 Poplar, which may be regarded as a 

 variety of the Black Poplar ; the Grey 

 Poplar, usually held to be a hybrid be- 

 tween the Aspen and the White Po])lar ; 

 also some less common kinds assimilating, 

 more or less, to the Black Poplar, as the 

 Canadian and the Balsam Poplars. i)i 

 these the Aspen and the White Po])lar 

 are native trees ; the others are of com- 

 paratively recent introduction. 



Speaking generally, the Poplars mav be 



described as trees with a spreading habit 

 of growth. They are light-loving trees, 

 and therefore are seldom to be met with 

 in our woods, but chiefly upon the borders 

 of these and in the open fields, preferably 

 in the near neighbourhood of water. They 

 have the ]-)ower of putting up root suckers 

 in abundance, so can reproduce them- 

 selves freely without dejiending so much 

 upon the growth of seedlings. 



In u'inler the looseness of their branch- 

 ing is very apparent. In the Black 

 Poplar and its immediate allies, with 

 the exception of the pyramiilal Lombardy 

 Pojilar. the long, straggling branches 

 and slender, wide-apart twigs produce 



