THE WATER RAT 489 



eyes had opened and soon began to show discontentment by 

 its cries and restlessness. The moment it was given access 

 to water it became happy, but on the first day restricted 

 its natatory excursions to traversing the vessel in a straight 

 line, keeping its head always dry. The next day it crossed, 

 still in a straight line,, but below the surface. The third day it 

 dived again, circling many times before emerging, and from 

 that time it continued to perfect its aquatic education. 



The Water Rat has a second quite distinct tendency not 

 usually recognised by those who regard it as an almost entirely 

 aquatic animal, namely, a mole-like power of digging. It may 

 thus be caught in regular mole-runs,^ or may even excavate its 

 own tunnels, throwing up "hills " at intervals in their construc- 

 tion. This is a procedure which it sometimes adopts when raid- 

 ing gardens or grass-plots,^ to reach which it sometimes travels 

 long distances from water, one having been taken, for instance, 

 in the stables of Hopton Rectory, at a distance of about a 

 mile from the Little Ouse,^ and another in a kitchen garden in a 

 small town.* One identified by J. H. Gurney ° was killed on 

 the lighthouse-cliffs of dry sand at Cromer, Norfolk, some 

 miles from any running stream. 



Like the Water Shrew amongst British insectivores, the 

 picturesque surroundings of its most favoured haunts, its 

 diurnal habits and non-sensitiveness to observation, perhaps 

 owing to its poor sight, have combined to render it an attractive 

 animal to lovers of nature ; its size renders it easy to observe, 

 so that its method of eating, swimming, and transportation of 

 its young have often been described ® ; all are, however, quite 



^ William Thompson, E. W. H. Blagg, Zoologist, 1894, 223 ; Field, 27th 

 February 1909, 377 ; H. Laver, Journ. cit, 6th March 1909, 419. This pro- 

 pensity appears at its height in the continental A. scherman, some races of which are 

 entirely terrestrial and mole-like in their habits (D. Pierrat, Feuille des Jeunes Nat., 

 1st March 1882, 62). 



'^ J. Duns, Proc.R. Phys. Soc. (Edinburgh), session cix., 1879-80, 352-55, 1880; and 

 session 1886-87, 32S, 1887 ; Fleming (clover). H. Daniells, Zoologist, 1847, 1768 

 (grass); S. Gurney, Journ. cit, 1851, 3265 ; Adams, MS. ; Charles Stewart, Hist. 

 Berwick Nat Club.,-Aw., 171 ; Millais. 



^ J. G. Tuck, Zoologist, 1898, 122. * E. B. Durham, Field, 27th June 1891, 980. 



' Field, 2 1st April 1894, 550. 



° One can "enjoy his society with greater intimacy than any other British 

 mammal"— Millais, ii., 291 ; note also Calverley's poem on The Water Rat. It is 

 often true that small mammals are more easily observed than large ones. W. P. 

 VOL. II. 2 I 



