THE TREE-SHREWS, OR TUP A I AS 



317 



Of the Malayan species, General M' Master writes, that it "is a 

 harmless little animal, in the dry season living in trees, and in the 

 monsoon entering our houses, and in impudent familiarity taking the place held in 

 India by the common palm-squirrel ; it is, however, probably from its rat-like head 

 and thievish expression, very unpopular. I cannot," he adds, "endorse Jerdon's 

 statement as to their extraordinary agility, for they did not appear to me to be 

 nearly as active as squirrels; at least I remember one of my terriers on two 

 occasions catching one a feat which I have never seen any dog do with a squirrel. 

 Cats, of course, often pounce upon them." Another observer, the Rev. Mr. Mason, 

 remarks that ' ' one that made his home in a mango tree, near my house at Tonghoo, 

 made himself nearly as familiar as the cat. Sometimes I had to drive him off the 

 bed, and he was very fond of putting his nose into the teacups immediately after 

 Breakfast, and acquired quite a taste both for tea and coffee. He lost his life at 

 last by incontinently walking into a rat trap." The familiarity of this tree-shrew, 

 and the ease with which it can be tamed, are mentioned by all who have written 

 of its habits ; and Dr. Cantor mentions that after feeding they are in the habit 

 of dressing their fur and paws, after the manner of a cat, and that they are 

 partial to water both as a bath and to drink. In disposition they are described 

 as being pugnacious in the ex- 

 treme, fighting fiercely with one 

 another when confined together 

 in a cage, and in their wild state 

 driving away all intruders of their 

 own kind from their particular 

 preserves. Their usual call is a 

 short, peculiar, tremulous, whis- 

 tling sound, but when roused to 

 anger it is changed to shrill pro- 

 tracted cries. 



The resemblance of the tree- 

 shrews to the squirrels comes 

 under the head of what is now 

 termed "mimicry," and may have 

 been originally due to the extreme 

 agility of the latter animals insur- 



ing them from pursuit by other 



creatures, as being a useless task. 



Hence it would clearly be an 



advantage for a slower animal to 



be mistaken for a squirrel. There 



is, however, a remarkable little 



squirrel (Sciurus tupaioides) found 



in Sumatra and Borneo, which appears, for some reason or other, to simulate the 



tree-shrews, and thus to afford an instance of a kind of reversed mimicry. " Not 



only does this Rodent," remarks Blyth, "resemble T. ferruginea in size, and the 



PEN-TAII,ED TREE-SHREW. 



(One-half natural size.) 



(From Gray.) 



