30 SHREW-MOUSE. 



It is common to find numbers of them lying dead in the fields 

 and hedge-rows, without any apparent external injury. The 

 cause of this general mortality does not appear to be understood. 



BELL'S QUADRUPEDS. 



THERE are numerous little circumstances con- 

 nected with the study of Natural History, which 

 are not yet explained, and it certainly affords me 

 some degree of gratification and pleasure, when I 

 have discovered any fresh facts which throw light 

 upon them. Persons who live much in the 

 country, and are in the habit of making observa- 

 tions during their walks, must have seen, in the 

 spring, numbers of the common Shrew-mouse lying 

 dead in various directions. This circumstance 

 has attracted the attention of many Naturalists, 

 who, on making enquiries as to the cause of it, 

 amongst their poorer neighbours and labourers, 

 have had it accounted for in a variety of ways. 

 Some have asserted that owls will kill, but not eat 

 them, as the loins of the little animal have been 

 found pinched as if by the beak of a bird. If this 

 were the case, the wise and solemn owl might justly 

 be liable to a charge of wanton cruelty, to say no- 

 thing of its waste of time during its nocturnal 

 flights. The fact, however, is that the owl catches 



