MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



opposite sex. It would seem to be dis- 

 tasteful to outsiders, but not unpleasant to 

 insectivores themselves, for cats will kill a 

 shrew from pure love of sport, or by mistake 

 for a mouse, but will seldom or never eat 

 it, whereas shrews themselves and moles 

 have no such prejudice. Owls, also, eat 

 shrews, in spite of their flavour. I believe 

 such sexually attractive scents almost always 

 coexist with the pugnacious temperament. 

 All musky-perfumed animals fight savagely 

 with one another for possession of their 

 females, as do also those with marked frills 

 or top-knots. 



Shrews, though comparatively seldom seen 

 by incurious eyes, abound by myriads in 

 most parts of England. Every summer 

 they increase sevenfold ; but as autumn 

 approaches, and food grows scarce, they die 

 off in their thousands from cold and hunger, 

 as I gather. So many of them then strew 

 the footpaths in sandy districts that country 

 people have a quaint superstition about 

 256 



