WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



do not know. There was a piercing shriek, 

 the moss heaved, and the frog came out. It 

 sat and looked around, and when the shrew 

 came near it blew out its sides with air until it 

 looked like a balloon. Soon the shrew turned 

 towards it, when, without waiting to be 

 touched, it again uttered that soul-rending 

 cry, which lasted until all the air had been 

 expelled and its sides had fallen in. The frog 

 seemed so terribly afraid — I never knew before 

 that a frog had enough wits to get really 

 frightened — ^that I picked it up and put it 

 into another case. The shrew then turned 

 his attention to the other frogs, toads, and the 

 blindworm, giving them all such an unhappy 

 time that I had to take them away too. 

 Having now got the case to himself he began 

 to make himself at home. He collected oak 

 leaves and grass with which to make himself 

 a comfortable nest beneath the shelter of a 

 fern. It was very snug and warm, the lining 

 being made of shredded leaves and grass. 

 Here he rested in the intervals of worm 

 hunting, for it was on worms that he lived. 

 One day my brother gave the ' Mighty Atom,' 

 as we had named him, thirty big earth-worms, 

 which he dragged off, one after the other, so 

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