THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



OUR FRIEND— THE SHREW. 



By R. Bruce Horsfall. 



Early last July while in the high Cascades near and just 

 below the snow line on Middle Sister mountain, Mr. Vernon 

 Bailey and the writer were standing one morning looking out 

 over a beautiful little lake. Not a fish stirred its emerald 

 depths ; not a ripple on its well protected surface except where 

 a lone female golden-eye duck swam enquiringly toward us. A 

 water ouzel dipped his dainty way along the shore. Insect larvae 

 and one species of tiny clam were the only life in its waters. Be- 

 fore us many deer tracks crossed and recrossed through this, the 

 shallow end of the lake. At our feet sang the brook that here 

 found its way down from the snows above ; its waters blocked, a 

 few hundred yards below, by a lava flow, was the direct means of 

 forming this lovely retreat. 



Suddenly at our feet scampered a little dark gray creature 

 disappearing beneath a rotten log. Mr. Bailey at once knew it 

 to be the small water shrew he had been so anxious 10 find in 

 this region and so we set about catching it. While I pulled away 

 the old log Mr. Bailey did some lively grabbing, at last rising 

 up triumphant with the fierce little creature clinging to his 

 finger, biting with all the powers of his short, sharp teeth. To 

 be sure these are tiny and shaped like so many sharp-pointed 

 grinders, therefore could not inflict more pain to a man than so 

 many pin pricks, but a change of hold to the nape of the neck 

 was quickly made. We tied a string to one hind leg and tossed 

 him into the water to see why he had been named water shrew. 

 Fluffing himself into a ball he sat on the surface as light as 

 thistle down and endeavored to chew off the cord ; failing in that, 

 he lowered his fur and, about one-third submerged, quickly 

 swam to shore. Wishing to see him dive, he was again tossed 

 out, and threatened with a stick. He dove at once and with 

 perfect ease reached a log several feet away. A beautiful sight 

 it was to see this little swimmer, several inches below the surface 

 of the clear water, covered, as with a coat of shimmering silver, 

 the effect 1 of the air carried down on his fluffed-out fur. 



Pag-e fifteen 



