LESSER SHREW. 2$ 



summits of the teeth are red-brown, and the almost horizontal 

 lower incisors are encircled by those of the upper jaw. 



The Common Shrew is found throughout Great Britain but 

 not in Ireland. Its vertical range is from sea-level certainly 

 to 1500 feet, at which height it has been found in Cheshire by 

 Coward and Oldham. It probably goes higher in our mountain 

 regions, for on the Continent it has been recorded at 6000 feet. 

 It is active all J:he winter among the dead leaves in some thick 

 hedgerow, where it searches for hibernating insects which are 

 plentiful in such covers. The rambler at this season may have 

 his attention called to the Shrew by its shrill squeak, but like 

 that of the Bats it does not impress all ears. 



A form found in the Isle of I slay has been separated as a 

 distinct species under the name of Sorex granti. 



It is strange that so inoffensive a creature should have been 

 the subject of superstitious malignity in the past. It was 

 reputed to cause lameness by merely running over the foot of 

 man or beast, and as an antidote a Shrew was plugged into a 

 hole bored in an ash tree from which thereafter a twig passed 

 over the afflicted part would effect a cure. Readers of Gilbert 

 White will remember his description of the Shrew-ash that 

 formerly stood " at the south corner of the plestor " at Selborne. 

 The evil reputation of the Shrew was much more ancient than 

 White's day, for the Rev. Edward Topsell, who wrote a 

 " Historic of Four-footed Beastes " (1607), says of it "It is 

 a ravening beast, feigning itself gentle and tame, but, being 

 touched, it biteth deep and poysoneth deadly. It beareth a 

 cruel minde, desiring to hurt anything, neither is there any . 

 creature that it loveth, or it loveth him, because it is feared 

 of all." 



Lesser Shrew (Sorex minutus^ Linn.). 

 The Lesser or Pigmy Shrew is the smallest of all British 

 mammals. It may be described roughly as a smaller edition 



