Dental formula: I. f ; C. %] P.M. f ; M. $.
Distribution.— The range of the Water Shrew extends from England across
Europe into Asia as far as the Altai Mountains, east of which barrier it does not
seem to be known at present, though it is unlikely that the species is absent from
North China and Manchuria.
Unknown in Ireland and most of the islands of the west and north of Scotland,
the species is fairly common in England and Wales as well as in Scotland,
where, however, it is more local. Until quite recently observers thought it necessary
to note the occurrence of this species and the bank vole, wherever they were
found ; and consequently we have such an abundance of records for England that
it is hardly necessary to particularise all the places where it has been noticed,
since it may be described as common in almost any district. A few localities,
however, will show its general distribution in England and Wales.
Jenyns (1835) mentions this Shrew as an inhabitant of Surrey, as also does
Brewer in his list of mammals found in the neighbourhood of Reigate (1856).
Smee, too, mentions it as inhabiting the Wandle. It also occurs on the Lude
Brook, Redhill, Chobham, and on the Wey, at Guildford.1 It is very common in
the ditches of the Essex marshes, and is numerous in many of the slow-moving
streams and backwaters of Middlesex, Surrey (especially in the Wey), Kent, and
Sussex. In the last-named county I have found it common in all the pools and
streams in St. Leonard’s Forest, while several colonies exist at Pulborough and
Crowhurst, where Mr. Ruskin Butterfield obtained the specimens figured in the
coloured plate. In Hants it is common, particularly on the Christchurch Avon
and in the pools of the New Forest. It is well known in Devon, Dorset, and
Cornwall. It is found in suitable localities throughout the Midlands, as well as in
the fen ditches of Cambridge and Norfolk, occurring close to the sea at Yarmouth.2
The species occurs in Suffolk,3 and I have seen it myself on the Waveney at
Beccles. In Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Shropshire, Stafford,
Durham, and Northumberland it is common, and doubtless it is as abundant in
other counties which I have not mentioned. In the Lake District the late Rev.
H. A. Macpherson considered it rare, but this can hardly be correct, for the
remains have frequently been found in owl pellets in the district.
In sluggish streams in Wales it is common, and Mr. Coward has found its
remains in owl pellets in Anglesey.
The range of the Water Shrew requires working up in Scotland, where but
1 Victoria H ist. County of Surrey. * Zoologist, July 1898. 8 Ibid. October 1900.
few have been recorded. Nevertheless it is common on the Solway and ‘ it has
been found as far north as Sutherlandshire, where it is not uncommon.’ 1 It was
first reported from the neighbourhood of Glasgow,2 and I have seen it myself in
a stream close to the ranges in Hamilton Park. It has been taken in North
Ayrshire,8 and indeed I believe it to be well distributed throughout southern Scotland.
Alston says that both the light and dark forms ‘ are widely but locally
distributed throughout the mainland.’ The late Mr. Small, of Edinburgh, used
occasionally to receive specimens from the Lothians, and Mr. Harvie-Brown states
that it occurs on the upper reaches of the Carron, in Stirlingshire. I have seen
the Water Shrew in Perthshire several times, and remember watching two which
were playing in a burn which flows into the Tay at Dalguise. There was at one
time a colony on a Tay backwater just above Dalguise bridge, where I have shot
a specimen. I have seen Water Shrews in the Delvin backwaters, and on the
Isla at Stobhall. I have an example of the dark form from a ditch at Loch Leven,
Kinross. In Aberdeen Mr. G. Sim4 says that both forms of the Water Shrew are
equally abundant; it is well known in Banff, and has been recorded occasionally
from Elgin and Nairn.6 Capt. Brander Dunbar, of Pitgaveney, informs me that he
has only twice observed the Water Shrew, and his father only once. Harvie-Brown
and Buckley6 failed to find trace of the animal in Argyll, and suggest that it may
have been overlooked; this is the case, as the Water Shrew has since been recorded,
7 and not only from the mainland but also from the island of Kerrera.8
Mr. Macleay, of Inverness, has never received an example from Inverness-shire or
Ross-shire, and thinks that it is very rare in those counties. Further north still
it has been found in western Ross,9 and Pennant talks of the ‘ Lavellan of
Caithness, which he suggests may be the ‘ water mole ’ of the natives of Sutherland.
Harvie-Brown and Buckley10 quote an interesting letter from Mr. Reid, of
Wick, in which he states that he saw several of these little animals being washed
down the river on floating masses of hay and corn during a flood in October
1872. Prior to that time it had been considered rare in Caithness. Harvie-Brown
found the Water Shrew in Sutherland in the limestone burns and rivers of Assynt,
and saw one which had been obtained on the Inver. He also states11 that the
Water Shrew has been seen or killed at Kintradwell, Culgower in Loth, and
Golspie. It is often stated that the Water Shrew does not occur on any of the
1 Alston, Faun. Scot. 1880, p. 10. * Mag. Nat. Hist. vi. 512. 8 Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glas. 1890, p. 293.
* Faun. Dee, p. 46. * Ann. Scot. Nat. H ist. 1900, p. 138. 6 Faun. Arg. and Inn. Heb. 1 Campbell, Ann. Scot. Nat. H ist. 1892, p. 266. 8 Borrer, ibid. 1893, p. h i . 9 dbM I9°3> P- 7°-
10 Faun. Sutherland, Caithness, and West Cromarty, p. 72. 11 P* 7a*