SHREWS 41 



SHREWS 



Towards the beginning of autumn we may find lying dead 

 upon a country pathway, or by the roadside, a Httle grayish- 

 brown animal, which at first sight bears a strong resemblance to 

 a mouse. Upon a closer examination, however, we find that in 

 three important respects it is very different from a mouse. In 

 the first place, it has a long projecting snout; in the second, it 

 possesses no "rodent" or gnawing teeth in the front of the jaws; 

 and in the third, its tail is short, blunt, and four-sided, the tip 

 being almost square. 



This little animal is a Shrew, and is related, not to the mice and 

 rats, but to the hedgehog and the mole. It belongs, in fact, to the 

 great family of the Insect-eaters, and is always searching about for 

 worms, snails, slugs, and insects, and other small creatures which 

 may serve it for food. 



But it does not feed upon these alone. If it should happen to 

 find the dead body of a small animal or bird, it will feast heartily 

 upon the carcass. Sad to say, too, it is a very quarrelsome little 

 creature, and a dreadful cannibal. If two shrews meet one another 

 they frequently fight, and the one which proves the conqueror, kills 

 its vanquished foe, and then devours it! 



On one occasion, as a well-known naturalist tells us, a steel 

 trap was set for a rat. In the morning, when the gardener who 

 had set the trap came to look at it, he found a dead rat in its 

 iron jaws, and sitting upon its body was a small dark object, which 

 proved to be a shrew. On looking closer, the gardener found 

 that the voracious little animal had actually eaten a hole in the 

 side of the rat, and was so absorbed in its repast that it allowed 

 the gardener to capture it. 



Several different kinds of shrews are found in Great Britain, 

 the most interesting of which is perhaps the Water-shrew. This 

 little animal makes its burrows in the banks of streams and ponds, 

 and may be found almost everywhere in such places by anybody 

 who can sit quietly and watch for it. 



Among the shrews is found the smallest of all mammals, 



