MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



So fierce a heart in so small a body is 

 rare, but the shrew knows not what fear 

 means. This particular pair of combatants 

 were so automatically intent on the fortunes 

 of war that Freckle was upon them and 

 investigating their nature with her in- 

 quisitive nose before they even woke up 

 to the fact of her presence. 



Most people seem to confuse shrews 

 with mice ; but, indeed, our small com- 

 batants are widely different creatures from 

 those timid little beasts ; they belong to a 

 wholly different group of mammals. Mice 

 are rodents, descendants of the same 

 common ancestor with the rats and dor- 

 mice, and not remotely related to the 

 squirrels and the rabbits. Shrews, on the 

 other hand, are insectivores, first cousins 

 of the moles, the hedgehogs, and the 

 desmans. Externally, it is true, they 

 resemble considerably the mice and voles ; 

 but those who have followed the course 

 of recent natural history must be aware 

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