ORIGIN OF THE WORD 'SHREW 65 



* As the night-crow sometimes you might see, 

 Croaking to sit upon some rampick tree.' 



The word ' shrew ' is said to be derived from 

 the Saxon screawa, i.e., a shrew or venomous 

 mouse, and it occurs in Saxon only in reference 

 to the shrew. ' Shrew ' itself also bears the 

 meaning of evil, or wicked. And so the poor 

 shrew, the most harmless little creature imag- 

 inable, was tortured, tormented, and ruthlessly 

 butchered, solely because of its name. Its life is 

 all too short as it is, for numbers of them die 

 annually, and their dead bodies may be frequently 

 seen in the roads and footpaths towards the end 

 of the summer. As their bodies, when thus 

 found, bear no marks of violence, it has been 

 supposed that they are very subject to some 

 disease. 1 1 is strange that they are almost always 

 to be found in the middle of some public footpath 

 or road, for they are naturally very shy, timorous 

 little animals, living in the hedgerows, woods, 

 and fields, making burrows somewhat after the 

 fashion of the mole, though on a minor scale, 

 and in these they pass the winter. Unlike the 

 mole, they are able to run very rapidly, but, like 

 that animal, their feet are singularly well fitted for 

 digging. The nest of the common shrew is made 

 of grass, not in a burrow, but on the surface of 

 the ground. Sometimes it may be found in a 

 hole in a bank, but wherever it may be, it is 

 always difficult to find, by reason of its being so 

 well concealed. Bell states that shrews are very 



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