TERRESTRIAL 207 



squeaking cry " may often be heard in the summer evenings. 

 " During the summer months these little creatures form well- 

 marked runs among the stalks of grass of meadows ; and, although 

 they are generally found in those in which the soil is dry, they are 

 by no means wanting in damp and marshy situations " (Lydekker). 1 

 They feed chiefly on insects, grubs, and worms ; they are exceed- 

 ingly pugnacious ; and they do nothing but good. Dead shrews are 

 common no one knows why in autumn, and they should be used 

 for a careful study of external characters. Shrews sleep through 

 the winter in safe hiding-places. A near relative of the common 

 shrew is the lesser shrew Sorex minutus the smallest mammal 



3 



FlG. 116. i, Frog ; 2, toad ; 3, frog catching a fly with its tongue. 



in Britain, half an inch shorter in body than the harvest mouse 

 (Mus minutus), and with teeth too small to be seen without a lens. 

 There will also be field- voles (Microtus agrestis) in the meadow, 

 and happily weasels (Mustela vulgaris) to keep down their numbers. 

 Birds of the Meadow. We can hardly think of a meadow 

 without seeing the swallows and martins skimming over it, 

 without hearing the skylark and the meadow pipit. Where the 

 cattle are feeding the graceful pied wagtails and the starlings are 

 at their feet picking up the disturbed insects ; where the long 

 grass is being kept for hay the skulking corn-crake " proclaims 

 his arrival by his harsh grating and monotonous cry, which may 

 be closely imitated by drawing a knife blade smartly across the 



1 See (Lydekker) p. 222. 



