46 MAMMALS. 



birth to a litter of from five to eight young in May, 

 rearing them at the end of a long burrow of her own 

 digging in a nest of moss and dry grass. 



This is the largest of our shrews. The body is broader, 

 the snout less tapering, the tail more slender than in the 



common species, and fringed with white hairs. 

 Appearance, The ^^ Qf reddish hue ftt ^ tipgj afe 



slightly recurved. The fur is black above, 

 white beneath, as also within the ears. 



[The older writers described a fourth shrew, a variety, as 

 is now well known, of the present species.] 



CHAPTER III. THE CARNIVORA. 

 i. THE WILD CAT. 



Of the now narrow distribution of the Wild Cat, fiercest 

 of our surviving carnivora, much has been written, while 

 its European range is the subject of a most interesting 

 volume. An additional interest formerly attached to it 

 by reason of its having been long regarded as the pro- 

 genitor of our domestic breeds; but this view is now 

 generally rejected. Nevertheless, the wild and domesti- 

 cated cats are known to interbreed. 



That the wild cat still holds its own, though in dimin- 

 ishing numbers, in the wilder districts of Argyllshire, in 

 Lochaber, and the extreme north-west of Scot- 

 land generally, is beyond all doubt, though 

 considerable caution is necessary before accept- 

 ing every reported wild cat as genuine, so many examples 

 having proved on investigation to be the domestic animal 

 run wild. Apart from this, there has been confusion, as 



