292 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



behind. Many of the latter were not nearly so big as 

 humble-bees. The multitude of insects and larvae which 

 swarm in rotten wood is probably the attraction to these 

 little animals. The same cause induced them to harbour 

 in the orchard, for I noticed that a multitude of small 

 birds frequented the ground under the fruit-trees to pick 

 up the grubs, &c., which fell from the branches. I could 

 not discover that these shrew-mice ever touch other food 

 than insects and their larvae, and I should think that 

 they are valuable friends to the farmer. 



By-the-by, in the southern part of Michigan I found 

 a much larger shrew, which is certainly the same as 

 Sorex vulgaris of England. It does not seem even to be 

 a variety. Is it indigenous ? or has it been transplanted 

 like the rats, mice, and sparrows from the Old Country ? 



A few evenings before I left the hospitable and kind- 

 hearted Dunford family we were visited by " a major." 

 The major was dressed in a pair of green trousers (he 

 had been in the rifles, perhaps !) which were extensively 

 patched with brown cloth on that part which was hid 

 from sight when the major assumed a recumbent posi- 

 tion. He had no coat, and his red Garibaldi shirt, like 

 his what-ye-may-call-'ums, had undergone many repairs 

 with materials of a different colour and texture from the 

 original. As he, without being invited, took a seat at 

 the log fire, and complacently crossed one leg over the 

 other, I noticed that his shoe was nearly soleless. If 

 one of his eyes had not been knocked entirely out, it 

 was, at least, out of line with the other. There were 

 also sundry scars about his face and nose, the marks 

 of bygone fights during the war, perhaps, or during 

 drinking- saloon rows. His face and hands were of such 

 a colour that he might have been any breed, red, black, 

 grey or brown ; but a glimpse or two of the most exposed 

 parts of his person obtained through the rents in his 

 shirt showed that, at all events, he had been lorn white. 

 From these signs I concluded that the major had lighted 

 on hard times. I should certainly have taken him for 



