WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



that time forth, devouring worms, spiders, 

 flies, woodlice, bits of rabbit flesh, and even 

 cheese, but no longer able to indulge in a feast 

 on one of his own kind. For a time I kept 

 his cage in the house so as to more fully 

 watch his ways, but he had such a strong 

 musky scent that other people objected, and 

 he had to be exiled to an out-building. Cer- 

 tainly the smell is strong, far worse than that 

 of the common shrew, which indeed to our 

 noses does not smell very much. It seems 

 that the odour of the water shrew arises from 

 the glands behind the shoulders which it has 

 like the other two kinds of shrews. Possibly 

 this smell helps them to find one another, for 

 though so quarrelsome when two strangers 

 meet, family parties will live together in little 

 colonies. Some people think the smell is a 

 protection to these small defenceless creatures, 

 as foxes, cats, and dogs will not eat them, but 

 as it does not stop these animals killing great 

 numbers it is hard to see what difference it 

 makes to the shrews ! That their bodies are 

 not eaten makes little odds once they are dead. 



All the shrews are exceedingly nimble crea- 

 tures, running, swimming, and climbing with 

 surprising skill. Perhaps the lesser shrew is the 



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