SMALL COUNTRY NEIGHBORS 393 



his cousin the shrew-mole, and just as greedy and fero- 

 cious. When a boy I captured one of these mole-shrews 

 and found to my astonishment that he was a bloodthirsty 

 and formidable little beast of prey. He speedily killed 

 and ate a partially grown white-footed mouse which I 

 put in the same cage with him. (I think a full-grown 

 mouse of this kind would be an overmatch for a shrew.) 

 I then put a small snake in with him. The shrew was 

 very active but seemed nearly blind, and as he ran to and 

 fro he never seemed to be aware of the presence of any- 

 thing living until he was close to it, when he would in- 

 stantly spring on it like a tiger. On this occasion he 

 attacked the little snake with great ferocity, and after 

 an animated struggle in which the snake whipped and 

 rolled all around the cage, throwing the shrew to and 

 fro a dozen times, the latter killed and ate the snake 

 in triumph. Larger snakes frequently eat shrews, by 

 the way. 



Once last summer, while several of us were playing 

 on the tennis ground, a mole-shrew suddenly came out 

 on the court. I first saw him near one of the side lines, 

 and ran after him; I picked him up in my naked hand, 

 whereupon he bit me, and I then took him in my hand- 

 kerchief. After we had all looked at him I put him 

 down, and he scuttled off among the grass and went down 

 a little hole. We resumed our game, but after a few 

 minutes the shrew reappeared, and this time crossed the 

 tennis court near the net, while we gathered about him. 

 He was an absurd little creature and his motion in run- 

 ning was precisely like that of one of those mechanical 



