Mole-shrew 1131 



whiskers, and if, after irritating a Shrew, I placed a stick 

 against it, in even the most gentle manner, the animal would 

 instantly spring at it. I could see that, in running along the 

 floor, it stopped the moment its whiskers touched anything; 

 and often, when at full speed, it would turn aside just before 

 reaching an object against which it seemed about to strike and 

 which it certainly had not seen. Unless enraged by being 

 teased, it endeavoured to smell every new object with which its 

 whiskers came in contact, turning its long flexible snout with 

 great facility for this purpose. 



" My caged specimens, both male and female, exhibited pug- 

 great pugnacity. When I touched one several times with a 

 stick, it would become much enraged, snapping and crying 

 out angrily. When attacked by a Meadow-mouse {Arvicola 

 scalopsoides), confined in a cage with it, one fought fiercely; 

 and though it did not pursue its adversary when the latter 

 moved oflF, neither did it ever retreat; but the instant the 

 Mouse came close, it sprang at him, apparently not guided in 

 the least by sight. It kept its nose and whiskers constantly 

 moving from side to side, and often sprang forward with an 

 angry cry when the Mouse was not near, as if deceived in think- 

 ing it had heard or felt a movement in that direction. In 

 fighting, it did not spring up high, or attempt to leap upon its 

 adversary, as the Mouse, but jerked itself along, stopping 

 firmly, with the fore-feet well forwards, and the head high. On 

 coming in contact with the Mouse, it snapped at him, and, 

 though it sometimes rose on its hind-feet in the struggle, I did 

 not observe that it used its fore-feet as weapons of ofi^ence, like 

 the arvicolcE. Its posture, when on guard, was always with the 

 feet spread and firmly braced, and the head held with the 

 snout pointing upwards, and the mouth and chin forwards, in 

 which position its eyes would have been of no use, could it have 

 seen. The motions of this animal, when angry, are char- 

 acterized by a peculiar firmness; the muscles appear to be 

 held very rigid, while the movements are made by quick, 

 energetic jerks. Short springs, either backwards, forwards, or 

 sidewise; appear to be made with equal readiness. 



