28 NATURAL HISTORY [Quadrupeds. 



GENUS XL THE SHREW-MOUSE. 



Gen. Char. Two cutting-teeth in each jaw, pointing forward ; long slender 

 nose ; small ears ; five toes on each foot. 



Species 1. The Shrew-Mouse. 



Mus Araneus, Shrew, Shrew-Mouse, or Hardy Shrew, Raii Syn. Quad. 233. 

 Sorex Araneus, Lin. Sys. 74. Brit. Zool. 112. Pen. Syn. Quad. 307. Sib. 

 Scot. Mus Araneus, Erd Shrew. 



FOUND but rarely in Orkney. I have only seen two spe- 

 cimens, and these dead ones, which I observed in the fields. 

 The snout small and extended, with many small teeth ; the 

 eyes and ears scarce visible ; the colour of the fur reddish ; 

 the tail shorter than the body ; the legs very short. 



Labours under a very bad character here, as well as esel- 

 where ; believed to hurt cattle by its breath and bite, but per- 

 haps with little truth ; the smell of it is very disagreeable, and 

 on that account it is avoided by almost every creature ; cats 

 indeed, mistaking it perhaps for the common mouse, will kill 

 it, but will not eat it. 



This creature completes the number of Orkney quadrupeds 

 which have yet been discovered, unless, with Linnaeus, we 

 take into this class the cetaceous fishes, which, indeed, have 

 this in common with them, that they breathe through lungs, 



