Insectivorous Land Mammals 



one would scarcely think they cared to live. Some 

 seasons are more productive than others in this respect, 

 and so far as the writer knows there is no satisfactory 

 explanation forthcoming for this peculiar feature in 

 Shrew life. 



It is extremely unlikely that these little creatures die 

 natural deaths. Were the tiny carcasses found during 

 severe weather one might reasonably surmise that cold 

 and hunger had stiffened the little bodies. Yet it is in 

 the milder seasons of the year that these corpses lie 

 about the turnpike or the bridle-path. The wind 

 will be rippling the short, soft fur of a dead Shrew on 

 the bare, sun-baked roadway, while the meadow-sweet 

 is getting into flower. The roadman, as he kicks the 

 little carcass into the ditch, partly as an act of devotion 

 to the dead, partly by way of keeping his stretch of road 

 free of all rubbish, thinks in his heart that there has 

 been war in the ranks of the mice, and that the one 

 moved by his heavy boot has been killed in the fray. 

 He may be right, for it seems there is no natural death 

 in the fields. There is no old age in the shires 

 amongst the grasses and the swaying tree-tops. Disease 

 may rivet a rodent to a limited area and it may die ; 

 more than likely a hooded crow croaks on an outspread 

 branch as the life-blood ebbs away. Accident may 

 hasten the death of a rodent, and give employment to 

 the little burying beetle. Murder in cold blood may 

 limit the age of the active quadrupeds. 



Perhaps of all the smaller animals of the hedgerows 



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