THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



75 



and interesting feature : the two upper fore-teeth are provided with a singular 

 barb, of course imperceptible to the naked eye, but readily seen with a lens. 

 Besides the common shrew (Sorex araneus), there are two other British 

 species, namely, the oared shrew and the water shrew (S. remifer and S. 

 podiens). They are both rather larger than the common shrew, and differ in 

 colour, the fur on the back of both species is black or nearly black, instead 

 of reddish-mouse colour. The water shrew has the underside white, and the 

 marked contrast between that and the back make it rather a pretty creature. 

 The underside of the oared shrew is greyish black, with the throat yellowish 

 ash colour. 



Our ramble has brought us to a brook. Let us keep a sharp look out, 

 perhaps we shall see one or other of the aquatic shrews ; lying dead I 

 mean, for they are nocturnal animals, and very seldom seen alive in the day- 

 time. But look there at that black animal popping out of that hole close by 

 the water's edge ! Keep still ! he is swimming this way. Ha ! he has seen 

 us, and instantly dived to the bottom of the brook, along which we can still 

 see him making his way. It is a water vole, popularly called a water " rat/' 

 but there is nothing rat-like about it. See ! there is a newt paddling along 

 in the water. This is spawning time with them, and they live at present an 

 entirely aquatic existence. The female newt takes great care of her eggs, 

 neatly folding each one up in a leaf of a water-plant, so as to preserve it from 

 the jaws of such fish as might regard it as a tit- bit. 



Here is a moth resting on this willow tree. It is a rather pale greyish 

 ochreous coloured moth, about the same size as Tceniocampa instabilis, but 

 evidently a different species. It belongs, however, to the same genus, and 

 we recognise it as T. gracilis. 



Now we will leave the brook and go across the meadow to yonder com- 

 mon. Look at that pretty black and white bird, with buff-orange breast, 

 perched on that stone. It is a wheat-ear chat (Saxicola cenanthe), and is one 

 of our summer migrants. Two other chats, the little whinchat {Sylvia 

 rubetra) and the stone chat (Sylia rubicola) also come at this time of the 

 year, not but what many stone chats remain here the whole year round, 

 nevertheless, the greater number leave us in autumn and return in April. 



Mention of these reminds me that the migrating birds will be arriving in 

 earnest this month. The swallows, house-martens, sand-martens, chiffchaffs, 

 wagtails, and ring ousels, if they have not already come will arrive at the 

 beginning of the month. The willow warbler will come in the course of the 

 second week, and the sedge warbler about ten days later. Soon after we 

 may expect to see the first swifts, and the grasshopper warbler will probably 

 arrive by the end of the month. 



