314 INSECTIVORES. 
Se) 
oceasions catching one—a feat which I have never seen any dog do with a squirrel. 
Cats, of course, often pounce upon them.” Another observer, the Rev. Mr. Mason, 
remarks that “one that made his home in a mango tree, near my house at Tonghoo, 
made himself nearly as familiar as the cat. Sometimes I had to drive him off the 
bed, and he was very fond of putting his nose into the teacups immediately after 
breakfast, and acquired quite a taste both for tea and coffee. He lost his life at 
last by incontinently walking into a rat-trap.’ The familiarity of this tree- 
shrew, and the ease with which it can be tamed, are mentioned by all who 
have written of its habits; and Dr. Cantor mentions that after feeding they 
are in the habit of dressing their fur and paws, after the manner of a cat, and 
that they are partial to water both as a bath and to drink. In disposition 
they are described as being pugna- 
cious in the extreme, fighting 
fiercely with one another when 
confined together in a cage, and in 
their wild state driving away all 
intruders of their own kind from 
their particular preserves. Their 
usual call is a short, peculiar, 
tremulous, whistling sound, but 
when roused to anger it is changed 
to shrill protracted cries. 
The resemblance of the tree- 
shrews to the squirrels comes 
under the head of what is now 
termed “mimicry,” and may have 
been originally due to the extreme 
agility of the latter animals insur- 
ing them from pursuit by other 
creatures, as being a useless task. 
Hence it would clearly be an 
advantage for a slower animal to 
PEN-TAILED TREE-SHREW (4 nat. size). (From Gray.) be mistaken for a squirrel. There 
is, however, a remarkable little 
squirrel (Sciwrus tuparoides) found in Sumatra and Borneo, which appears, for 
some reason or other, to simulate the tree-shrews, and thus to afford an instance 
of a kind of reversed mimicry. “Not only does this Rodent,” remarks Blyth, 
“resemble 7. ferruginea in size, and the texture and colouring of its fur, but 
the muzzle is similarly elongated, and there is even the pale shoulder-streak usual 
in the genus Tuwpaia.” 
Pen-tailed Tree- In addition to the ordinary genera, the only other living 
Shrew. member of the family is the pen-tailed tree-shrew (Ptilocercus low?), 
which differs so remarkably in the structure of its tail as to form the solitary 
representative of a distinct genus. This little animal is between 5 and 6 inches 
in length, exclusive of the tail, which is of great length, and characterised by its 
upper two-thirds being naked, and the lower third ornamented with a double 
