THE LESSER OR PIGMY SHREW 



Its hold on life is so slight that it soon dies in confinement, even 

 when caught by hand and uninjured. 



One brought to me by a man working in my garden at first appeared 

 quite lively and readily took the flies I provided while making the 

 sketches for the figure in the Plate, but soon a gradual change began 

 and it was dead in a few hours. 



When feeding the long flexible snout was bent in almost any direc- 

 tion, while the fore feet were not used to hold the flies when eating, 

 entirely different fi-om the action of a mouse in similar circumstances. 



At times the Lesser Shrew seems quite indifferent to the presence 

 of human beings. I once observed one among some grass on a lawn 

 which allowed me to approach so closely and seemed so tame that I 

 caught some flies which it at once devoured, and becoming still more 

 familiar it moved on to the palm of my hand and allowed me to lift 

 it from the ground. 



This is the only instance I have met with of such unusual tameness 

 in a wild animal, but Mr. Millais mentions a somewhat similar case 

 when a Water Vole allowed itself to be stroked {Mammals of Great 

 Britain and Ireland^ appendix). The nest and number of young are 

 much the same as those of the Common Shrew. 



41 



