ro THE ANIMALS OF NORTHERN AFRICA 



different groups, and will carry them about, caress them with evident satisfaction, 

 and defend them furiously in case of any attempt to take them away. They are 

 also very sociable, and make friends with any larger animals kept in the same 

 cages. When young they are lively, active, clever, and good-natured, but with 

 increasing age they grow surly and often positively vicious. 



Among the insect-eating mammals, the pigmy Egyptian musk- 

 shrew (Urocidura rei%g%osa) is noteworthy as being one of the smallest 

 of non-flying mammals ; it is considerably smaller than the European pigmy shrew- 

 mouse, being only 1| inches long, exclusive of the tail, which is just under an inch 

 in length. Possibly, however, a Malagasy species is still smaller. There are two 

 much larger kinds of musk-shrews inhabiting Egypt, namely C. olivieri and 

 C. (Pachyura) crassicaudata. The bodies of all three were carefully embalmed 

 by the ancient Egyptians. A pigmy species (C. [P.] etrusca) also occurs in 

 Algeria, Arabia, and southern Europe, where it inhabits the south of France, Italy, 

 Sicily, Trieste, and the Crimea. It differs from the Egyptian species in the 

 number of its teeth. 



_ „ Hedgehogs are represented in north-western Africa by Erinaceus 



Hedgehogs. . . . 



algxrus, a near ally of the ordinary. European species. Egypt is, 



however, the home of a second and smaller kind, the long-eared hedgehog, 



E. auritus, which is also found in Cyprus, and on the Continent to the north 



extends from the Caucasus and Asia Minor into central Asia. In addition to its 



diminutive size and large ears, it is characterised by the absence of a bare patch on 



the forehead, and the longitudinal grooving of the spines, which also carry minute 



tubercles. The southward range of this species extends towards Nubia, but on 



the upper Nile it is replaced by the larger E. cethiopicus. 



Of greater interest is the exclusively African family of iumping- 

 Juinping-Slirews. ° »-t 7 ., 



shrews, Macroscelididce, represented in Algeria by Macroscelides 



rozeti. Some of these animals are of the size of a rat, but all progress by hopping 



on their hind-legs after the manner of miniature kangaroos ; and to adapt them 



for this kind of movement the basal bones of the hind-feet are unusually elongated. 



They are also characterised by the great length of the muzzle, which forms a kind 



of trunk, whence the name rat-a-trom/pe, applied to the Algerian species by the 



French. 



The following account of the habits of a captive specimen of one of these 



elephant-shrews, as the jumping-shrews are often called, is given by Major G. B. H. 



Barrett-Hamilton : " Its most curious feature was its proboscis, which was never 



still for a moment, but seemed to be constantly affected with a kind of St. Vitus's 



dance, twitching now to this side, now to that, now up, now down. When the 



end of the proboscis, during its twitchings, came over an ant, its motions would 



change slightly, and it would quiver over the ant as if aware of its presence. Then 



suddenly out would dart a long, thick tongue, the ant vanished as if by magic, 



and its fate was indicated only by the working of the little jaws of the shrew 



Except for the very much lesser use of the eyes, the performance put me in mind 



of the feeding of a toad. Nearly all its food was taken by the use of the proboscis, 



but occasionally by using its eyes. When hungry the proboscis was often put 



right into the holes of lumps broken off ant-hills placed in the box, and the ants 



