THE WATER SHREW 143 



other mammals not specialised for digging, it utilises ready- 

 made burrows as much as it possibly can. But this does not 

 mean that it cannot also dig for itself, and one which Mr 

 Cocks kept in captivity for some months finally escaped by 

 grubbing away the somewhat decayed edges of two boards 

 in a very vigorous manner. Monsieur de Kerville describes 

 the burrow as being provided with three entrances, one 

 submerged, a second at the surface of the water, and the 

 third, sometimes multiple, opening to the land and away from 

 the stream ; but such a plan is certainly not invariable, for I 

 have caught a Water Shrew by damming up a small stream 

 and flooding it out of its abode. Occasionally, according 

 to Blasius, it is said to make use of the galleries of the 

 Mole. 



In the deep recesses of the burrow may be found, according 

 to Mr Millais, "a compact ball of grass with a few oak leaves, 

 very similar to the nest of the Common Shrew, only larger." ^ 

 Two such were found contiguously by Mr C. E. Wright ^ under 

 a wild duck's nest in an old pollard willow. They were com- 

 posed of shreds of wood, small willow roots, and a few pieces of 

 fine grass. 



Like the other shrews, this species is by no means entirely 

 nocturnal, and it is frequently to be observed abroad by day. 

 That it also moves about by night is shown by the occurrence 

 of its skull in the "pellets" of owls, and these birds have been 

 seen hunting it. 



It is also as active in winter as in summer, and Mr G. H. 

 Caton Haigh has often seen it swimming under the ice beneath 

 his feet while skating, thus confirming similar statements 

 by Blasius for Germany and Pallas for Siberia. A charming 

 account of its movements in a half-frozen burn may be read in 

 the Lays of the Deer Forest, by John Sobieski and C. E. Stuart.^ 

 Occasionally, however, as Jonathan Couch noticed in 1855,* 

 the shrews are driven from their ordinary haunts by the 

 ice ; but the plump condition of those which he found showed 

 that they had not owed their death to starvation. It is 

 probable, according to Mr Millais, that heavy floods are more 



' A little chamber lined with moss (CoUett). ^ pg^ L. E. Adams, MS. 



^ Vol. ii., 311-313. * Zoologist, 1855, 4702. 



