much
wished to reduce the numbers, and give some away, but could never tell
which were the mothers of the small pink infants I was being presented
with continually. I tried putting a little family of the babies into a
cage in the plant case, hoping the mother who belonged to them would
then appear and take care of them; but no, the entire colony trooped in
and ran riot in the new place, and if a young gerbille was by chance
left uncovered in the _melee_, a twentieth cousin would take it up
tenderly as if it was its own mother, and replace it in the nest--a very
emblem of brotherly kindness and charity. The colony had finally to be
dispersed and given away in small detachments to different friends, and,
strange to say, in no other case did the numbers increase, I imagine
because the requisite conditions of space and quietness were not
realized as in the pleasant home I was able to provide for them.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

WATER SHREWS.

Hearing that the little patients in a London hospital had scarcely any
toys, and that they especially desired a very large doll, I had one
dressed for them, and various other interesting items, such as an album
of pictures, bags of shells, a stamp snake, &c., were prepared; but a
large box was needed in which to pack all these treasures; and one which
had been for months in the wine-cellar was brought up for that purpose
into the hall.

It was filled with straw, and as I was watching this being taken out I
noticed some small black animals darting about in it.

"They must be young rats," I exclaimed, "and the rare kind, too--the
black rat, which has been almost entirely eradicated by the stronger
brown species." A curious instance, by the way, of a foreign interloper
driving out the native.

I immediately resolved to secure these animals, whatever they might
prove to be, and, armed with leather gloves, and an empty glass globe to
place my captures in, I began to search in the straw, and soon secured
the supposed rats, but they proved to be a pair of water shrews--jet
black, lively little creatures, with sharply-pointed snouts and teeth,
as I soon discovered to my cost. I had taken off my gloves and was
watching the activity of the shrews, when suddenly they flew upon each
other, biting and screaming with rage, and, thinking they would kill
each other at that rate, I tried to separate them, but one turned and
bit me pretty severely, and it was with some difficulty