i[ojet THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Morrarity AMONGST SHREws.—I think it has not yet been determined 
why so many Common Shrews, Sorea araneus, are constantly found dead 
on roads and foot-paths. For many years I have observed them here at all 
seasons; and it is a remarkable fact that so many are seen dead on foot- 
paths and roads. If they are as numerous in woods and tall herbage, there 
must indeed be an immense number of them. Perhaps some of your 
correspondents may be able to throw a little light upon the subject —JamgEs 
Mourvon (Highfield, Silverdale, Carnforth). 
[In the second edition of his ‘ British Quadrupeds,’ p. 147, Mr. Bell 
observes :—‘‘ So many may be found at that season (early autumn) lying 
dead in footways, or on other bare ground near their haunts, as to have led 
to the belief among country people that the Shrew could not cross a 
public way without incurring instant death. We confess ourselyes wholly 
unable to furnish any explanation, having failed to discover any cause of 
death.”—Ep.j 
Toe MammMats or SHAKESPEARE.—Mr. Reeks has included the Sable 
amongst the mammals noticed by Shakespeare (Zool. 1878, p. 245), but 
I think the reference is a mistake. I remember reading many years ago, 
in a magazine article on new readings of Shakespeare that ‘ Sabelle,” in 
Shakespeare's time, was a colour,—‘ flame-coloured” or bright red,—and 
that the word had been derived from a certain Queen Isabelle of France 
who had red hair. This meaning certainly makes Hamlet's remark much 
more striking. To propose to wear dark fur in preference to black does not 
seem much ofa contrast; but, if the above be correct, then his speech is 
strong and bitter enough:—‘“ So long? Nay, then, let the devil wear 
black, for I'll have a suite of sabelle”—i.e., bright red—Joun E. Rosson 
(Hartlepool). 
[The colour which the French call “Isabelle” is a brownish yellow, 
the hue of unwashed linen, and is said to owe its name to the Infanta of 
Spain, daughter of Philip the Second, who in 1601 made a vow not to 
change her linen until her husband had captured Ostend. The town was 
not taken until 1604, by which time it is not surprising that the linen had 
assumed the above-named hue. An account of the incident apropos of the 
isabelline colour of certain birds, and a portrait of the lady, will be found 
in the late Mr. Dawson Rowley’s ‘ Ornithological Miscellany,’ part iv., 
p. 264.— Ep. ] 
Larce RorquaL oN THE Coast or CornwaLy.—On January 28th a 
large Rorqual, Balenoptera musculus,—reported to have been floating in the 
channel many days previously, surrounded by a multitude of sea-birds,—was 
towed in by a fleet of boats belonging to the fishermen of Looe, on the coast 
of Cornwall, where it has since been “ flinched,” and its blubber boiled down 
for oil. Some of its dimensions were as follows :—Extreme length 64 feet 
