amongst Insectivorous and L'aruivorotts Mammals. 751 



Tt is well known that .iltlion<fh c its will kill common 

 slirew.'J, tlioy will not cat tlicm. This, it has long' been 

 belicvpcl, is due to the rank and |)owerful musky scent which, 

 to quote J. G. Wood, saturates the flt-sh of these insectivores. 

 To their unpalatability the author just mentioned tentatively 

 ascribes the tiequcnt discovery ot dead shrews lyino; about 

 in exposed places in the autumn. It is, indeed, witliin the 

 experience ot" every resident in the country that dead shrews 

 may commonly bo seen, whereas dead voles and field-mice, 

 which are palatable, are comparatively rarely observed. To 

 what extent shrews are protected from destruction by their 

 scent, if, indeed, they are protected at all, is not, I believe, 

 known. Owls will certainly kill and eat them ; but there is 

 no proof that carnivorous mammals, like weasels, stoats, and 

 foxes, not to mention snakes, will do the same. Many birds, 

 for instance, will eat nasty-smell in f^ ground-beetles, whicli 

 mammalia, with their keen olfactory sense, will not touch. 

 Nor must it be inferred that weasels and stoats kill shrews, 

 because cats do so. Cats always catch mice and other small 

 swift-running piey with their paws, not with their mouths. 

 They do not therefore, it may be sui)posed, get the full odour 

 or rtavour of the shrews they pounce on, until attempting to 

 eat them ; weasels, stoats, and foxes, as well as snakes, on 

 the other hand, seize prey with their mouths, and it is 

 possible that in this circumstance may be found a protective 

 significance for the scent-glands of shrews of the genus Sorex. 



Although shrews are procryptically coloured, it is known 

 that " when moving about [they] f i equently utter a series 

 of shrill squeaking cries," as recorded by Major Barrett- 

 Hamilton*. These squeaks I have myself heard when 

 watching shrews hunting about in the woods in broad day- 

 light ; and the possibility of the sounds being a means of 

 advertisement, serving to distinguish shrews from mice, must 

 be borne in mind. At all events, neither mice nor voles, so 

 far as I am aware, behave in that way, but keep quite quiet, 

 unless they are fighting together or about to be seized by an 

 enemy. The b'^haviour of shrews in captivity is also very 

 different from thatof the rodents in question. Without handling 

 or coaxing, they become tame with surprising r<ipidifyj and 

 this is due, I think, to innate fearlessness of disposition and 

 not to speedy realization of the benevolent intentions of their 

 captor. One that 1 possessed some years ago could be let out 

 of his cage with perfect safety after a few days' imprisonment. 

 He would run all about the mantel-piece, questing every inch 

 of ground with his sensitive flexible snout j but he never made 

 the slightest attempt to escape or to hurry, and was quite un- 

 responsive to sudden movements or sounds, such as would 

 * "A History of British Mammals,' pt, viii. (1911). 



50* 



