348 THE ERD SHREW, OR SHREW-MOUSE. 



account of the powerful scent which it exudes ; and the creature is called in Scotland the 

 Ranny, a name which is evidently modified from the Latin term, araneus, or spider-like, which 

 has been applied to this animal by several writers, because it was said to bite poisonously like 

 a spider. 



The teeth of the true Shrew are very peculiar, so much so, indeed, that they cannot be 

 mistaken for those of any other animal. Their peculiarities are mostly remarkable in the 

 incisor teeth, which are extremely long ; those of the upper jaw being curved and notched at 

 their base, while those of the lower jaw project almost horizontally. There are no canines, and 

 the molars differ slightly in arrangement, according to the species. In the Erd Shrew the tips 

 of the teeth are tinged with a blood-colored brown. 



The head of the Shrew is rather long, and its apparent length is increased by the long and 

 flexible nose which gives so peculiar an aspect to the animal, and serves to distinguish it at a 

 glance from the common mouse, which it so nearly resembles in general shape and color. The 

 object of this elongated nose is supposed to be for the purpose of enabling the animal to root 

 in the ground after the various creatures on which it feeds, or to thrust its head among the 

 densest and closest herbage. Many insects and their larvae are found in such localities, and it 

 is upon such food that the Shrew chiefly subsists. Worms are also captured and eaten by the 

 Shrew, which in many of its habits is not unlike the mole. 



The habitation of the Shrew is in certain little subterraneous tunnels, which it excavates 

 in the soil, and which serve as a hunting-ground as well as a home. Like the mole, the Shrew 

 is very impatient of hunger, and cannot endure a protracted fast, although it may not be so 

 inordinately voracious as that velvet-coated animal, which it is said will die of hunger if it be 

 kept without food for six hours. It has been suggested, that the many dead Shrews which 

 are found in the autumn owe their deaths to starvation, the worms having descended too 

 deeply into the ground for them to follow, and the insects, being pinched with the cold, having 

 concealed themselves in their wintry hiding-places. 



If this be the case, the curious phenomenon of dead Shrews lying uninjured on the ground 

 will be readily cleared up, although it will not account for the singular fact that the dead ani- 

 mals are not carried off by cat, weasel, or owl. For this portion of the phenomenon another 

 reason must be found ; which probably exists in the rank and powerful scent which saturates 

 the body of the Shrew, and which is sufficiently unpleasant to deter cats and other animals 

 from eating its flesh. 



Owls, however, will eat the Shrew, as has been found by examination of the pellets which 

 are ejected by owls and other birds of prey, and which contain the skin, feathers, bones, and 

 other indigestible portions of the creatures on which they prey. Twenty such pellets, or casts, 

 as they are technically termed, were examined for the purpose of ascertaining their component 

 parts, and no less than seven' Shrew skeletons were discovered in the debris. Moles ai-e said to 

 be among the number of the Shrew' s enemies, and to make occasional havoc among the pretty 

 little creatures. 



Sometimes the Shrews mutually kill each other, for they are most pugnacious little beings, 

 and on small ground of quarrel enter into persevering and deadly combats ; which, if they took 

 place between larger animals, would be terrifically grand, but in such little creatures, appear 

 almost ludicrous. They hold with their rows of bristling teeth with the pertinacity of bull- 

 dogs, and, heedless of everything but the paroxysm of their blind fury, roll over each other 

 on the ground, locked in spiteful embrace, and uttering a rapid succession of shrill cries, which 

 pierce the ears like needles of sound. 



It is a most fortunate circumstance that the larger animals are not so vindictively pugna- 

 cious as the moles and the Shrews ; for it would be a very hard case if we were unable to put 

 two horses or two cows in the same field without the certainty of immediate fight, and the 

 probability that one of the combatants would lose its life in the struggle. Such, however, is 

 the case with the Shrews ; for if two of these little quadrupeds be confined in the same box, 

 they are sure to fight to the death, and the consummation of the combat is, generally, that 

 the vanquished foe is eaten by the victor. 



However great may be the damage which the bite of such tiny teeth may inflict upon each 



