250 NATURAL HISTORY. 



seize it ; and though they are very numerous in our 

 forests, yet I have never seen one of them upon a tree ; 

 they always remain at the foot, in some hollow space : 

 or under moss : they continue in a state of inactivity 

 during the whole day ; and they only venture abroad 

 by night, but seldom approach human habitations : 

 they sleep during the winter ; and therefore every 

 thing that has been said of their hoarding up provisions 

 for that season must be false. They never eat much, 

 and can subsist very long without any food whatever. 

 Their flesh like that of all other animals which become 

 torpid in winter, is not proper food, nor is their skin 

 of any use. 



THE SHREW-MOUSE. 



THE Shrew-Mouse seems to fill up the vacuum be- 

 tween the rat and the mole : the shrew-mouse is smal- 

 ler than the domestic mouse, and resembles the mole 

 in its snout, which is longer than its jaw-bones. Its 

 eyes, though larger than those of the mole, are, in like 

 manner, concealed, and much smaller than those of the 

 domestic mouse : the number of its claws, of which it 

 has five to each foot ; its tail, and Us legs, particularly 

 the hind ones, which are shorter than those of the do- 

 mestic mouse ; its ears, too, and its teeth, resemble 

 those of the mole. 



This diminutive creature has a strong smell peculiar 

 to itself, and so offensive to cats, that though they 

 will cheerfully kill the shrew-mouse, they will not eat 

 it. It is evidently this noisome odour, this aversion of 

 ibe cat to it, that gave rise to th<? notion that the shrew- 



