THE SHREW. 



and the triangular spot beneath the tail, as men- 

 tioned by Pennant, afford the best ready distinc- 

 tion of this mouse from the common shrew. Both 

 our species of sorex seem to feed by preference on 

 insects and worms ; and thus, like the mole, their 

 flesh is rank and offensive to most creatures, which 

 reject them as food. The common shrew, in spring 

 and summer, is ordinarily in motion even during 

 the day from sexual attachment, which occasions 

 the destruction of numbers by cats, and other 

 prowling animals ; and thus we find them strewed 

 in our paths, by gateways, and in our garden walks, 

 dropped by these animals in their progress. It was 

 once thought that some periodical disease occa- 

 sioned this mortality of the species ; but I think 

 we may now conclude that violence alone is the 

 cause of their destruction in these instances. The 

 bite of this creature was considered by the ancients 

 as peculiarly noxious, even to horses and large cat- 

 tle, and variety of the most extraordinary remedies 

 for the wound, and preventives against it are men- 

 tioned by Pliny and others. The prejudices of anti- 

 quity, long as they usually are in keeping possession 

 of the mind, have not been remembered by us ; and 

 we only know the hardy shrew now as a perfectly 

 harmless animal, though we still retain a name for it 

 expressive of something malignant and spiteful. 



I think we have reason for suspecting that a 

 shrew new to Britain exists in this neighbourhood, 



