MICE, 
VOLES, 
AND 
RATS, 
BY 
OXLEY GRABHAM, 
M.A., M.B.O.U._ 
UR British Mice, in- 
cluding the Shrews 
and the Voles, are nine in. 
number. Some of them are 
little known, and of the 
habits of all of them we 
have yet much to learn. Of the shrews we have three different species—the Common, 
the Lesser, and the Water Shrew. The common shrew is to be found everywhere ; 
it is locally known as the Blind Mouse—though it has distinct eyes—and in some 
districts as the Artystraw. I have often found their nests, containing from five to 
eight .young;- one that I came across when shooting in a second crop of clover 
was as late as the Ist of October, and contained five young about half-grown. 
There is a great mortality amongst shrews at certain times of the year, and they 
may be found lying dead on roads, pathways, and similar places. They are very 
pugnacious little animals, and, although generally insectivorous, will take carrion 
‘ readily, and I have often trapped all three species, 
using this as a bait. They vary a good deal in 
thew general colour. I have one beautiful pure 
white variety with pink eyes, which was picked 
up dead some years ago in Yorkshire. There 
used to be all sorts of superstitions about shrews ; 
but these are fast dying out, though remnants of 
them still remain. Shrews have a peculiar musky 
smell, and though cats will catch them readily, 
they seldom eat them, though owls, kestrels, 
weasels, and stoats will do so readily. The 
lesser shrew—our smallest British mammal—is 
very much rarer than the common one, though 
in some districts 1t is fairly abundant. It has 
a proportionately much longer and more hairy 
tail than the common shrew has, and is darker 
in colour; the arrangement of the teeth is also 
different. I have trapped them, as I have done 
the water shrew, using a bit of rabbit’s liver as 
bait. The water shrew is a very handsome little 
animal, looking to the casual observer lke a 
miniature mole. It is common in many places, 
frequenting the sides of ditches, ponds, and streams, 
126 
Photog ‘aphe by T. A. Metcalfe, ‘Pickering. 
THE COMMON SHREW. 
DORMICE. 
