A MINIATURE BRITISH FAUNA 115 

 III 



SHREWS 



NOT the least interesting group of our miniature 

 fauna is the family of shrews. This consists of three 

 species, so far as Britain is concerned, forming the 

 genus Sorex. These are the common shrew or shrew- 

 mouse, the water-shrew, and the lesser shrew. 

 They are elegant little creatures, graceful in every 

 movement, and wondrously adapted to their seclusion 

 amongst the ground herbage in which they live. 

 Their mobile snouts are attenuated, the fur, short, soft 

 and silky, tail long, the feet delicate and cleanly 

 cut. As with the voles, the habits of shrews make 

 them difficult of observation, and their short velvety 

 coats enable them to pass through the closest herbage, 

 or beneath carpets of dry leaves, with the greatest 

 ease. They haunt woods and copses, the open 

 fields, and the uplands; and we have found them on 

 the sides of Helvellyn fifteen hundred feet above 

 sea-level. 



The common shrew of our meadows is an ex- 

 quisitely formed little animal, about three and a 

 half inches in length, and with brilliant eyes. Its 

 velvety fur is chestnut above and greyish-yellow 

 beneath, while its feet and extremities are flesh- 

 coloured. This species occurs frequently in low- 



