THE ROCK JUMPING SHREW 



be a Jumping Shrew with body bunched up and 

 immovable, but very wide awake, for, on reaHsing 

 it had been observed, it would bound off with 

 prodigious jumps, and so rapidly that a mere 

 momentary glimpse of it would be seen, leaving a 

 feeling of uncertainty whether the eyes had not 

 been deceived by the passing shadow of a bird. 



When moving at leisure they walk on all-fours. 



They are exceedingly timid little animals, and 

 usually die of fright when captured and held in 

 the hand. 



Master Noel Leppan, who is a keen young 

 naturalist, has sent me several of these Jumping 

 Shrews from Thorngrove, Somerset East District 

 of the Cape. 



Their food, like that of the other species, consists 

 of insects. They may sometimes be seen on the 

 outskirts of clumps of brushwood, or amongst the 

 rocks, disporting themselves in the sun, or hunting 

 for insects. On the slightest cause for alarm, such 

 as the breaking of a twig, or the scent of an enemy, 

 they bound off to their retreats in the cracks and 

 crannies of the rocks. Jumping Shrew^s are beset 

 on all sides by enemies. The watchful Hawk is 

 ever ready to drop down upon them ; a dozen 

 kinds of carnivorous animals regard them as choice 

 morsels ; snakes lie in ambush ready to enfold them 

 in their coils, to paralyse them v/ith their terrible 

 venom, or to penetrate to the innermost recesses of 

 their retreats and make a meal of them. 



II 



