THE COMMON SHREW 97 



grammes weight tire out, kill, and partially devour a mouse 

 weighing 17 grammes. The killing and subsequent meal 

 occupied a full hour/ 



Mr Rope ^ has observed that shrews tunnel rather frequently 

 in dry cow-dung, no doubt for the purpose of eating the 

 invertebrates which find their sustenance in it. In captivity 

 their appetite is so remarkable that it seems to merit a special 

 paragraph, and will be described below. 



This animal, like the Mole, is very pugnacious, especially 

 in the breeding season,^ so that it is rare to see two of 

 them together except in the act of fighting or pairing. Mr 

 J. G. Millais once discovered a pair locked in the embrace 

 of mortal combat, and Mr T. A. Coward has found fur 

 in the mouths of dead shrews, which, judging by their wounds, 

 must have perished while fighting. When moving about they 

 frequently utter a series of shrill squeaking cries, which, like 

 those of bats, are not clearly audible to everyone, and which 

 probably indicate a highly nervous and excitable disposition. 

 Sometimes they turn to pursue a comrade, and, if battle be 

 refused, the resulting chase is conducted in leaps of fully two 

 feet each. The best description of their voices which I have 

 seen was penned many years ago by John Wolley, who wrote that 

 the "low sibilous notes may not inaptly be called whispering." 



The irascible nature of the Shrew is even more manifest in 

 captivity ; no box is large enough to contain two of them at 

 peace, and one will fight with any other creature of about 

 its own size. 



If two be confined in a box together, a very short time 

 elapses before the weaker is killed and partly devoured, the 

 victor not hesitating to tear out the intestines of the vanquished. 

 C. A. Witchell^ has described the fury of a captive which, 

 having disembowelled a comrade, attacked with equal ferocity 

 snakes, slow-worms, and vipers, from an unequal conflict with 

 which it was removed unhurt in body and unsubdued in spirit. 



"A duel between Shrew-mice," writes Mr English, "is, 



1 Vertebrates of the Adirondack Region^ 69-70. 2 Zoologist^ 1886, 26. 



3 At this season both males and females show signs of conflict, particularly about 

 the feet and tail, which are often quite denuded of hair and covered with wounds 

 (Adams, op. cit., infra, p. 108). 



^ Zoologist, 1883, 293-294 ; Fauna and Flora of Gloucestershire, 1892, 9-10. 



