Then if you lie and watch quietly by the bank of a river, there you may see the Water-rat or Vole (not the land-rat which sometimes hunts for prey in the water) diving under with a splash to gnaw the roots of the duckweed or the stems of the green flags, and coming up to sit on the bank, and hold them in his paws as he eats them; while not far off a pretty little Water-shrew, this time too small and different to be mistaken for his companion, is swimming along with his hind feet, the air bubbles covering his velvety back with silvery lustre as he chases water-shrimps, or feeds on fish-spawn or young frogs. Both these animals live in streams and rivers, and bring up their young in holes in the bank, where they can jump into the water if the weasel attacks them, or the common snake pokes his head too near their home.

These are perhaps the chief examples we shall find in England of insect-eaters and gnawers living near together and following the same kind of life; but if we look over the world it is most curious how many parallels we can draw between them, showing how the same dangers have led to the same defences.

Fig. 56.

A group of Insect-eaters.

Common Shrew, Hedgehog, Mole, Bat.

Look among the insect-eaters at our Hedgehog (Fig. 56), so weak and shuffling in his movements that he would have been cleared out of the world long ago but for the sharp elastic spines which grow upon his back in the place of hair. There he goes trotting along under the hedges in the twilight, cracking the horny skins of beetles, or sucking eggs, or devouring worms, slugs and mice when he can get them, without a thought of fear. For he can roll himself up in an instant if danger be near, and his sharp spines will keep off even dogs and foxes, unless they can catch him unawares,

and bite him underneath in his soft throat. Nay, he can actually master a poisonous snake, and use it for food, not suffering even from the adder’s fangs when they pierce his tender nose.

Fig. 57.

A group of Rodents.

Harvest-mouse, Porcupine, Mole-rat.

It is curious to see how quickly he can roll himself up by drawing together the strong band of muscle which passes along the sides of his body from head to tail, sending out bands of muscle to feet, head, and legs. When he contracts this band his limbs are all drawn in, and the spiny back forms a kind of prickly bag all round them, even his

tender snout being safely hidden. Nor are his spines merely sharp—they are as elastic as the hair of which they are modifications; and the hedgehog can drop safely from a height when he is in his ball-shape, falling on the spines, which bend and straighten again as though made of whalebone. So he lives under hedges and in ditches till the winter comes, when he settles down in a nest of moss and leaves in a hedgebank or a hollow tree, and sleeps the cold weather away. And when the spring comes he takes a wife, who brings up her little ones in the nest of moss and leaves under the hedgerow, watching over them as long as their spines are soft.

And now where shall we look among the rodents for a creature to match the hedgehog among insect-eaters? Surely to the “fretful Porcupines,” which feed on all kinds of vegetable food in Southern Europe, Africa, Asia, and America, protecting themselves by the formidable array of spines which they can raise at will. Even the European porcupine, which is about two feet long and the weakest of his tribe, is better protected than is generally believed. It is true that his long black and white ringed spines only cover the hinder part of his body, but the hair of his head and neck hides a number of short spines which can give very sharp pricks; and though he is a timid night-loving animal, hiding by day in burrows and holes of the rocks, yet when attacked he jerks himself up against his enemy, so that the long spines wound very severely. And when we come to the Tree-porcupines, which hang by their tails from the palm trees in Mexico and Brazil, we find that their short stout spines are a very efficient defence both against birds of prey and the deadly coils of the boa constrictor and other large snakes; while the Western porcupine and the almost tailless Canada porcupine, which climb trees and strip off their bark and buds, have a clothing of such dangerous weapons that pumas and wolves have been known to die of inflammation from the wounds.

The porcupine among the rodents, then, like the hedgehog among insect-eaters, has adopted prickles as a defence. But there are many soft-haired creatures living upon the ground in both families which have no protection but concealment, and we find them both gaining it by burrowing into the ground. Among the insect-eaters the Mole is the most successful digger, and as he works his tortuous way through the ground in search of worms and grubs, it is scarcely possible to imagine a miner more usefully equipped for his work. His skeleton, it is true, is, on the whole, more primitive and roughly finished than that of higher animals, his ear is almost closed, and his eye though bright is deeply hidden; but the parts specially necessary to him are most wonderfully fitted for the work they have to do.

His broad shovel-like front paws (see Fig. 56), with their five strong claws, set each in a long groove at the tip of the last finger-joint, are powerful tools for shovelling away the earth, as he turns them outwards and pushes with them as if he were swimming; and they are carried on strong, short, and broad front legs, fixed to collar-bones and a shoulder blade of unusual strength, while the breastbone is so formed as to throw the legs forward and bring them on a level with his nose when he is burrowing. This nose, too, has its part to play, for it is long and slender, with a small bone at the tip, which helps him in pushing his way forwards while his hind feet are planted flat and firm on the ground behind, while it also serves to pick out the grubs, worms, and beetles from their narrow holes.

Here, then, we have the very best of miners, who has secured food and safety far from the busy world above, and spends his time hunting for grubs and earth-worms in the dark earth below. He is a most voracious animal, and makes the ground above him heave and swell as he toils through it eager for prey, pushing up every now and then with his nose the loose earth he has excavated, thus marking the line of his route by molehills.

But when he builds his home and fortress where he takes his long winter’s sleep, and hides from weasels and pole-cats, he takes care to throw no loose rubbish above; on the contrary, he presses the earth together so as to make the walls of his chamber firm and hard, and carries out from it a number of passages, by any of which he can reach his home in safety when he is pursued too closely.

Thus by his cleverness in burrowing, and the useful tools which he carries upon his body, the mole has managed to find safe feeding-ground and shelter, when no doubt many of his relations living above ground have been killed off. Even underground he has his enemies, for the Weasel, the Stoat, and the Badger find him good eating, while if he meets one of his own brothers in a narrow passage they will fight till one is killed and eaten; yet though fierce he is also tender-hearted, for mole-catchers say that when a mother-mole is caught in a trap the father may sometimes be found dead by her side.

And now if we turn to the rodents for rivals to the mole, we are almost confounded by the multitude of creatures which have found safety in burrowing. Not only have we the rabbit-warrens, by which the sandy soil of our commons is riddled in every direction with holes, leading to burrows where the mother lies snugly hidden with her five or six naked little ones in a bed of her own fur; but we have the extensive burrows of the little, long-legged, leaping, gnawing Jerboas of Africa, which are so like the Jumping Shrews among insect-eaters. Then again there are the underground cities of the South American Viscachas and Chinchillas, and the extensive subterranean settlements of the Lemmings,—those curious rodents, which from time to time start off in vast swarms across Norway, over mountain and valley, through flood and fen, over rivers and plains, preyed upon by eagles and hawks, foxes and weasels, on their way, but never stopping or swerving in their course till they reach the sea, into which they plunge and drown themselves. Again, every inhabitant of Switzerland knows the Marmot and the burrows he forms, scratching up the earth with his hind feet and patting it together with his front paws and his broad nose; while every American child has heard of the hillocks thrown up by the “Prairie Dogs,”[138] which undermine whole plains in the far west with their underground cities, where the burrowing owl shares their home with them, and the rattlesnake steals their young.

Footnote 138. Cynomys.

Fig. 58.

The Pyrenean Desman,[141] an insect-eating water animal.

But all these come out upon the land and use their burrows chiefly for homes and nurseries. We can match the mole better than this among rodents, for in Eastern Europe, India, and Africa, there are blind creatures called Mole-rats[139] (see Fig. 57), with broad flat heads, small eyes hidden in their fur, short tails, and feet with sharp claws, which live almost entirely underground, burrowing subterranean galleries in the sandy plains in search of roots, as the mole does for worms; while the Pouched Rats[140] of North America also live in burrows, throwing up hills just like mole-hills, and gnawing roots and buried seeds, which they carry in their large cheek-pouches, to store up in their underground chamber for winter food.

Footnote 141. Myogale Pyrenaica.

Footnote 139. Spalacidæ.

Footnote 140. Geomyidæ.

Nevertheless, the rodents can scarcely compete with the mole as burrowers, and it is not till we come to the water-animals that they begin to have the best of it. True, the insect-eaters have the Water-shrew and the curious West African Shrew,[143] with its broad tail; while the Desman[144] of Russia and the Pyrenees (see Fig. 58), with his dense furry coat, his broad tail, and his webbed feet, is quite a match for the gnawing Musk-rat or Musquash of North America, for they both live in fortresses on the river-banks, to which hidden passages are well contrived to elude pursuit; and while the desman,

Footnote 143. Potamogale.

Footnote 144. Myogale.

with his curious movable snout, pokes about in the Russian or Pyrenean streams after leeches, water-snails and insects, the musquash in America gnaws off the roots and stems of water-plants.

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