1104 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



Sir Falco sparverius brought home to his brood a tiny Shrew, 

 of the species yclept by scientists the Sorex personatus. Now, 

 it chanced that the young hopefuls of the robber baron were 

 not just then very hungry — oh! marvellous chance — so that the 

 Sorex personatus, being left to his own devices, set about to 

 escape, and so far succeeded that he burrowed down through 

 the home effects of the kestrel and the moss-builder, but here 

 the hard mud floor barred further progress, and the poor 

 little captive, weary and wounded, soon died in the buried 

 nest; and there I found him, like Ginevra in the oaken 

 chest, when long afterwards I broke open the rotten timber 

 and made it disclose a tragic tale that, maybe, never hap- 

 pened at all. 



The food of this Shrew is chiefly insects and worms, with 

 a welcome variation when flesh meat of any kind happens to 

 fall in its way. There is reason to believe that it will occa- 

 sionally kill and devour Field-mice, and, as we have seen, it 

 is very ready when in captivity to destroy for food the weaker 

 ones of its own species. As related, Merriam put three of 

 them together. One was killed and eaten by his companions; 

 then the stronger of the survivors served the other in the same 

 way. " Hence," he says, " in less than eight hours one of these 

 tiny wild beasts had attacked, overcome, and ravenously 

 consumed two of its own species, each as large and heavy 

 as itself. The functions of digestion, assimilation, and the 

 elimination of waste are performed with wonderful rapidity, 

 and it seems incomprehensible that they should be able 

 to procure sufiicient animal food to sustain them during our 

 long and severe winters; indeed, I incline to believe that their 

 diet is more comprehensive than most writers suppose, and that 

 they feed upon beechnuts and a variety of seeds, and possibly 

 roots as well, though I confess that I have no direct evidence to 

 adduce in support of this supposition." 



There is, however, much indirect evidence. Some allied 

 species and many carnivores are known to do this very thing 

 when they fail to find the necessary rations of flesh meat. 



