390 Professor MacGillivray on the Mammalia of the 



finely pointed, and some of the hairs project nearly a quarter of an inch. 

 In an old female, obtained on the 30th of June 1843, the hairs on the 

 tail were adpressed and very short, those at the tip obliterated. The 

 upper parts vary from very dark-brown to chestnut-brown ; the sides, 

 although always distinctly of a lighter brown, klso vary in tint; and the 

 lower parts from brownish-grey to greyish-white. The teeth vary chiefly 

 from being used. The lower canine, in old individuals, has its anterior 

 lobes worn down, so as to represent only the two posterior lobes. 



In an adult, the aosophagus was about an inch in length ; the stomach 

 ovate, five-twelfths of an inch long, and four-twelfths in breadth ; the 

 intestine eleven and a half inches long, and from one and a half to two 

 and a half twelfths in breadth. 



This species is common, and generally distributed in the three 

 counties, being found equally in the lower districts and in the high- 

 land valleys. It occurs on dry grassy and mossy banks, in woods 

 and copses, by hedges, on links or downs, and in fields, meadows, 

 and pastures. It feeds on insects, larvaa, and worms, in searching 

 for which it works its way in concealment, among the moss and 

 herbage, forming long tortuous passages or galleries, similar to those 

 of the mole, and which it appears to force more by its snout than 

 feet, as the claws are seldom in any degree blunted. Individuals are 

 often met with in hay fields, and even in wet meadow ground. But 

 it is among the long tangled grass by walls and hedges, and especially 

 among the ferns and thick herbage of rocky banks, that it is most 

 numerous. Often, when it cannot be seen, its presence is made 

 known by its shrill, weak, little modulated cry. On the surface it 

 runs with considerable speed ; but it is not there so active as a mouse, 

 for it is liable to be tripped by the herbage. It is very often found 

 dead in the woods and pastures, especially from the middle of May 

 to the end of September, and, I think, more particularly in dry wea- 

 ther. It is difficult to discover the cause of this mortality ; but, 

 judging from circumstances, I should suppose it to be owing to con- 

 tinued drought, which either destroys the worms near the surface, 

 or causes them to retreat to an inaccessible depth, for the runs of 

 this species are not found to pass into the soil. But I have also 

 seen shrews lying dead on paths in the woods in rainy weather. In 

 most cases those found in such situations have been crushed by the 

 foot ; but frequently I could not trace any injury inflicted upon them. 

 Owls and Kestrels frequently prey upon it ; but cats, although they 

 kill it, refuse to eat it, which may, perhaps, be owing to the peculiarly 

 fetid odour that emanates from it. 



Several foolish notions prevail respecting it among the country 

 people, who allege that by running over the backs of horses it causes 

 lameness in them, and that it is unsafe for a person to walk over it. 

 Some imagine that it lames for life the foot over which it happens 

 to run, and others are afraid of allowing it to pass between their 

 fe^t. It is, perhaps, on this account that it is so generally killed 

 when met with. The creature, however, is exceedingly harmless ; 

 and, as it feeds on worms and insects, it rather merits protection. 



