MAMMALIA. SORICID.E. 



67 



considerable difference of opinion. They are "much 

 produced ; the upper ones curved and notched at the 

 base, the lower ones almost horizontal." There are in 

 all twenty-four molars or grinding teeth, but no true 

 canines. The length of the body, not including the 

 tail, is about two and a half inches. The fur exhibits 

 a reddish tint on the back, which passes from the 

 ordinary mouse-colour to a light-grey on the under 

 surface of the belly. The snout is conical and pointed; 

 the eyes and ears are small the latter being scarcely 

 visible and furnished with two lobes internally. With 

 regard to its habits Mr. Bell observes, that " the 

 common shrew frequents dry situations, feeding upon 

 insects and worms, in the pursuit of which its attenu- 

 ated snout enables it to grub amongst the closest 

 herbage, or under the surface of the soil; for which 

 habits it is also adapted by its soft, short, velvety coat, 

 and its extensible form. Like the mole and other 

 insectivorous tribes, it is very impatient of hunger 

 during summer ; like that animal too it is excessively 

 pugnacious, so that it is rare to see two of them 

 together excepting in the act of fighting. If two shrews 

 be confined in a box together, a very short time elapses 

 before the weaker is killed and partly devoured. They 

 not only destroy each other, but there is reason to 

 believe that many of them are victims to the voracity 

 of the mole." A friend also informed him " that, in a 

 field which had always before been abundantly 

 inhabited by shrews, scarcely one had been seen during 

 the then present season ; but that a colony of moles 

 had occupied the district, to whose voracity he, with 

 much probability, attributed the disappearance of the 

 shrews." Touching the early history of this creature 

 many curious superstitions were formerly held in 

 this country respecting them ; but though, as we have 

 recently taken occasion to show, these follies do still 

 exist in regard to certain animals, we are inclined to 

 believe that, so far at least as the shrews are concerned, 

 they have almost entirely passed away. The childish 

 notion that lameness of the foot or some grave disease 

 could result from the mere accidental passage of a 

 shrew over that part of the body of another animal 

 was really credited, and, absurdly enough, induced our 

 intellectual peasantry to prepare a ridiculous charm, 

 which they swore to be an unfailing antidote against 

 these imaginary injuries. This preparation was called 

 shrew-ash, and a twig or fragment of it constituted the 

 remedy. Tho modus operandi in the manufacture 

 of this ash is thus described by Mr. Gilbert White : 

 " At the south corner of the plestor or area, near the 

 church, there stood about twenty years ago a very old, 

 grotesque, hollow pollard-ash which, for years had 

 been looked upon with no small veneration as a shrew- 

 ash. Now a shrew-ash is an ash whose twigs or 

 branches, when applied to the limbs of cattle, will 

 immediately relieve the pains which a beast suffers 

 from the running of a shrew-mouse over the part 

 affected ; for it is supposed that the shrew-mouse is of 

 so baneful and deleterious a nature that, whenever it 

 creeps over a beast, be it horse, cow, or sheep, the 

 suffering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, and 

 threatened with the loss of the use of the limb. 

 Against this accident, to which they were continually 



liable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew- 

 ash at hand, which, when once medicated, would 

 maintain its virtue for ever. A shrew-ash was made 

 thus: Into the body of the tree a deep hole was bored 

 with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse was 

 thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt with several 

 quaint incantations long since forgotten." Some other 

 methods of cure were likewise had recourse to, but of 

 these it is unnecessary to speak further. The shrew- 

 mouse propagates very rapidly, the female bringing 

 forth six or seven young ones at a birth. The nest 

 is rudely constructed of grass and other vegetable 

 materials, and is placed in superficial holes in the 

 earth, especially amongst hedgebanks, the debris and 

 snug recesses of which afford abundant security. An 

 excess of these animals is wisely prevented by the 

 agency of owls, moles, and weasels, and also, it would 

 appear from the statements of several writers, by a 

 special mortality which cuts them off by hundreds 

 during the autumnal months. The immediate cause of 

 this phenomenon yet remains to be explained. 



THE WATER SHREW (Sorex fodiens). This form 

 is darker than the common shrew upon the back, and 

 also, on the other hand, of a lighter colour beneath the 

 belly, being in point of fact, quite white. The feet 

 and tail are provided with conspicuous, but thinly set 

 hairs. The ears and eyes are very small, the auricles 

 being furnished with three internal lobes. It is also a 

 somewhat stouter species, while, at the same time, it 

 measures three and a quarter inches in length. The 

 fur is very close, smooth, and downy a circumstance 

 hich, together with an increased breadth of the feet, 

 favours the development of its swimming propensities. 

 Perhaps the best account of the habits of this pretty 

 little animal, is that long ago recorded by Mr. Dovaston 

 in the second volume of London's Magazine of Natural 

 History. Speaking of the behaviour of one of these 

 shrews, he says " It swam with great agility and free- 

 dom, repeatedly gliding from the bank under water, 

 and disappearing below the mass of leaves at the 

 bottom, doubtless in search of its insect food. It 

 very shortly returned and entered the bank, occasion- 

 ally putting its long sharp nose out of the water, and 

 paddling close to the edge. This it repeated at fre- 

 quent intervals from place to place, seldom going more 

 than two yards from the side, and always returning in 

 about half a minute. Sometimes it would run a little 

 on the surface, and sometimes timidly and hastily come 

 ashore, but with the greatest caution, and instantly 

 plunge in again." This species has a pretty wide dis- 

 tribution throughout the British isles, being found in 

 Devonshire, and also as far north as Scotland. The 

 female brings forth six or seven young at a birth. 



THE OARED SHREW (Sorex remifer). This is a 

 comparatively large species, and, like the two pre- 

 ceding, indigenous to the islands of Great Britain. Its 

 body is rather more than three inches long, the tail 

 also being two-thirds of the entire length of the animal. 

 The last-named organ has a quadrilateral shape. It is 

 flattened towards the tip, being also provided with 

 stoutish hairs along the under surface. The fur is of 

 a rich black colour, except at the lower part of the 

 belly, where, in some specimens at least, it is greyish- 



