436 THE WATER SHREW. 
bodies, with sores called fellons or biles, which doth pain them with a great inflammation, 
so that it be three times environed or compassed about the party so troubled. The Shrew 
which dyeth in the furrow of a cart-wheel, being found and rowled in potter's clay or a 
linnen cloth, or in crimson, or in scarlet woollen cloth, and three times marked about 
the impostrumes, which will suddenly swell in any man’s body, will very speedily and 
effectually help and cure the same. 
The tail of a Shrew being cut off and burned, and afterwards beaten into dust, and 
applyed or anointed upon the sore of any man, which came by the bite of a greedy and 
ravenous dog, will in very short space make them both whole and sound, so that the tail 
be cut from the Shrew when she is alive, not when she is dead, for then it hath neither 
good operation, nor efficacy in it.” 
It is probable that this virulent hatred of the Shrew, and this groundless terror of its 
bite, was caused by the rank scent which exudes from the creature, and the acknowledged 
fact that the Shrew is frequently seen in the close vicinity of reposing cattle. But as the 
Shrew is an insectivorous aninal, it has been well suggested that its habit of frequenting 
the neighbourhood of cattle may be in consequence of the flies and other insects which 
are always found in such localities, and on which the Shrew hopes to make a meal. 
It has already been mentioned that the Shrew will eat one of its own species if slain 
in battle, and it is therefore evident that its food does not wholly consist of insects and 
worms, but is occasionally varied by other and more generous diet. One of these little 
creatures has been discovered and killed while grasping a frog by the hind-leg; and so 
firmly did it maintain its grasp, that even after its death the sharp teeth still clung to the 
limb of the frog. Whether the creature intended to eat the frog, or whether 1t was urged 
to this act by revenge or other motive, is uncertain. 
The nest of the Shrew is not made in the burrow, as might be supposed, but is built 
in a suitable depression in the ground, or in a hole ina bank. It is made of leaves and 
other similar substances, and is entered through a hole at the side. In this nest are 
produced the young Shrews, from five to seven in number, and, as may be imagined, 
extremely diminutive in size. They are generally born in the spring. 
The total length of the adult Shrew is not quite four inches, of which the tail occupies 
very nearly the moiety. The tail is remarkable for being square in form, instead of 
cylindrical, and on account of that circumstance it has received from some authors the 
specific name of tetragonirus, or Square-tail. 
Sm1LAR to the erd Shrew in general aspect, but easily to be distinguished from that 
anunal by its colour and other peculiarities, the WATER SHREW stands next on our list. 
This little creature was for many years supposed to be identical with the erd Shrew, 
and its aquatic propensities thought to be the ebullition of joyous existence, which was 
not content with disporting itself upon the earth, but must needs seek a further vent for 
its happimess among the waters. However, the Water Shrew is now acknowledged to 
be a separate species, and may be distinguished from the erd Shrew by the following 
characteristics. 
The fur of the Water Shrew is nearly black upon the upper portions of the body, 
instead of the reddish-brown colour which tints the fur of the erd Shrew. ‘The under 
parts of the body are beautifully white, and the line of demarcation between the two 
colours is very distinctly drawn. The fur is very soft and silken in texture, and, when the 
animal is submerged under the surface of the water, possesses the useful property of 
repelling moisture, and preserving the body of the animal from the injurious effects of the 
water. When the Water Shrew is engaged in swimming, those parts of the fur which are 
submerged below the surface appear to be studded with an infinite number of tiny silvern 
beadlets, that give to the whole animal a very singular aspect. This phenomenon is pro- 
duced by the minute air bubbles that cling to the fur, and which exude from the space 
that is left between the hairs. This curious appearance is well shown in the large 
engraving of British Shrews on page 422. 
A further distinction, and one which is more valuable than that which is furnished by 
