MAMMALS. 45 



life has been remarked by so many writers that it need 

 here only be alluded to the immense strength of the 

 limbs and their conversion into digging implements ; the 

 long pointed sensitive snout ; the velvety fur, which will lie 

 equally well in any direction so as to offer no resistance 

 to motion backwards or forwards in the earth ; the 

 absence of external ears which, if present, would get 

 clogged, and the very small eyes, which are hardly 

 needed by an animal living in darkness. Old works on 

 Natural History describe a central " fortress " which the 

 Mole constructs under a bank or tree, and with which the 

 numerous tunnels communicate, but at the present day 

 the correctness of these statements is doubted. The males 

 are more numerous than the females, and sometimes fight 

 furiously. The number of young in a litter averages four 

 or five, and the nest is a mass of leaves, roots, etc., situate 

 beneath a large molehill. The young are blind and naked, 

 but grow very rapidly, so that at six weeks old they are 

 three-fourths the size of the parents and able to follow 

 them about. Weasels will pursue and kill Moles in their 

 burrows, and Eyton states that an old mole-catcher 

 near Wellington caught a Mole and a Stoat in the same 

 trap. Length to end of tail, nearly 8 inches. Colour, 

 black with a grey gloss. Varieties occur of a white, 

 cream, or buff colour ; a fine specimen of the last is in 

 the Shrewsbury Museum. 



SHREW, or Shrew-mouse. Common in Shropshire, this 



Sorex vulgaris. little animal is not often seen alive on 



account of its seeking food only by 



night. In autumn large numbers of them are found lying 



dead in roads and lanes ; there are no marks upon 



them, or we might suppose they got killed in fight, for 



